Parents: Have time to Worry About Identity Theft and Your Kids?

I like to think that I’m smarter than a lot of my friends when it comes to knowing where my family and I are vulnerable when it comes to identity theft. I’ve even taught my three-year old little boy how important it is to shred – we’ve made a game out of it.

As a representative of LifeLock, I’ve spoken with many parents about what red flags to look for as it relates to their children and the potential misuse of their identities. Red flag #1: be on the lookout for pre-approved credit card offers and catalogs that may come in the mail addressed to your children, this is a sign that they may have a credit report. So, you can imagine my surprise when one Saturday my son received an LL Bean catalog in the mail!

Because my family all subscribe to LifeLock, my first call was to LifeLock to have them look into this further to see if my son may in fact be a victim of identity theft. Very quickly it was reported back to me that he does not in fact have a credit report - phew, what a relief! The next step was to request a work history with the Social Security Administration to see if anyone may be using his information illegally to gain employment. My fingers are crossed that this comes back negative as well. LifeLock has also worked to scrub his name from the direct mail lists to reduce any further “junk mail” he may get.

As it stands right now, the chances are very slim that he’s been a victim of identity theft but it’s a relief to know that LifeLock is one phone call away and will work to take the steps to confirm that he is indeed safe and that I have nothing to worry about.