Most parents find out about child identity theft the same way, years after it started. A teenager applies for a first student loan or a phone contract, gets turned down, and the credit report the lender pulled shows a car loan from 2019, two credit cards and a debt in collections, all in the name of someone who was in fourth grade at the time.
It happens more than people think. Javelin Strategy & Research counted more than a million child victims in a single year, and most of them knew the person who used their details. The reason it goes unnoticed is simple: a child is not supposed to have a credit file, so nobody ever thinks to look at one, and a stolen Social Security number can be used quietly for a decade before anyone asks a question.
To a fraudster, a child’s Social Security number is close to ideal. It has no history attached, so nothing contradicts the fake name and date of birth that get paired with it, and nobody is watching the file. Lenders rarely check whether a number belongs to a minor, which means it can be used to build a fresh credit profile, open cards and take out loans for years before the real owner turns 18.
The numbers come from the usual places, such as data breaches at schools, pediatric clinics or insurers, and forms that ask for them far more often than they need to. They also come from much closer to home: A relative in financial trouble, or a parent’s ex-partner, has access to the child’s documents and knows nobody will check, which makes these cases particularly painful to sort out.
How to Check Whether Your Child’s Number Is Being Used
There is no single place to look, so the check starts with the three credit bureaus. A child who has never had credit should not have a report at Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. Each bureau has a process for parents to ask whether a file exists in their child’s name, usually by mail or through its website, and you will be asked for a copy of the birth certificate, the child’s Social Security card, your own ID and proof of address. If a bureau finds a file, that is the sign that someone has used the number.
The everyday warning signs are easier to spot once you know them. Pre-approved credit card offers addressed to your child, calls from collectors asking for them, or a notice from the IRS saying their number was already claimed on someone else’s tax return all mean the number is in circulation. So does a benefits application turned down because the child supposedly has income.
Freeze Their Credit Before Anyone Else Uses It
The most effective step costs nothing. Since 2018, parents have been able to freeze the credit of a child under 16 with each of the three bureaus, even if no file exists yet. The bureau creates a file and freezes it straight away, which means no lender can open an account with that number until you lift the freeze, typically when your child is ready to apply for their own first card or loan. Teenagers aged 16 and 17 can request a freeze themselves.
It takes three requests and the same set of documents, and it is probably the most useful half hour a parent can spend on this. The rest is habit: keep the Social Security card at home, and when a school, a sports club or a summer camp asks for the number, ask why they need it. Very often, they do not.
What a Freeze Cannot See
A freeze blocks new credit, but it does not tell you when your child’s number turns up somewhere else, such as in a breach file sold on the dark web or on a fake tax return. That is where monitoring helps, and it is one of the reasons we would look at a family plan from an identity theft protection service if you have several children.
Coveron is the identity protection service from Nord Security (the company behind NordVPN) and it is a good example: Its two household plans cover an unlimited number of children alongside the adults, and for each child they scan the dark web for their Social Security number and alert you if it appears. The children’s data stays private within the plan: only the parent who added a child can see that child’s alerts. Coveron cites research from LSEG showing a 40% rise in child identity theft over three years, and says around one child in 50 is affected every year.
The adults on the same plan get the rest of the service, including credit monitoring at all three bureaus and insurance that pays for the recovery if fraud does happen, with a case manager to handle the calls and disputes. That is the part worth having when the person whose identity was stolen is a child, since they cannot deal with lenders themselves. Coveron is sold only in the US, and New York residents cannot claim the insurance benefits. Our Coveron review explains the household plans in detail, and the Coveron coupon code page lists the current discount.
Protect Your Family With Coveron
If It Has Already Happened
If a bureau tells you a file exists in your child’s name, ask it to remove the fraudulent accounts and freeze the file, then contact each company where an account was opened and tell them it was opened with a minor’s number. Report the theft at IdentityTheft.gov, which produces a recovery plan and the letters to send, and file a police report if a company asks for one.
When the person responsible is someone in the family, the decision about the police report is a hard one, and some parents hesitate. Without it, though, the child may stay responsible for the debt in the eyes of lenders, and that is a heavy thing to discover at 18. For a wider look at the services that can help, our guide to the best identity theft protection services compares Coveron with four others, including the family plans of each.