New ID theft targets kids' SS numbers

[Liberal_in_LA]

AP IMPACT: New ID theft targets kids' SS numbers
By BILL DRAPER, Associated Press Writer

Associated Press August 2, 2010 07:35

(08-02) 19:35 PDT Kansas City, Mo. (AP) --

The latest form of identity theft doesn't depend on stealing your Social Security number. Now thieves are targeting your kid's number long before the little one even has a bank account.

Hundreds of online businesses are using computers to find dormant Social Security numbers — usually those assigned to children who don't use them — then selling those numbers under another name to help people establish phony credit and run up huge debts they will never pay off.

Authorities say the scheme could pose a new threat to the nation's credit system. Because the numbers exist in a legal gray area, federal investigators have not figured out a way to prosecute the people involved.

"If people are obtaining enough credit by fraud, we're back to another financial collapse," said Linda Marshall, an assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas City. "We tend to talk about it as the next wave."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/08/02/national/a083601D52.DTL#ixzz0vauNvR7D