Child Identity Theft Prevention

Objective 

Through the Sheriff’s Identity Theft Protection Initiative, CCSO is bridging a gap between federal policy and public awareness to help residents proactively protect themselves and their children from becoming victims of identity theft.

 

Definitions 

Identity Theft: Identity theft is a crime that occurs when someone uses your personal information to open accounts, file taxes, or make purchases.

Child: For credit reporting purposes, a child is an individual under the age of 16. Unless a child is added to a parent’s credit card or other account, they often don’t have a credit report. Requesting to freeze a child’s credit both creates a credit report for that child and freezes the credit of that child. Individuals over the age of 16 can pursue credit freezes through the credit reporting agencies online through the same mechanism adults use to freeze their credit.

Credit Freeze: A credit freeze prevents most companies from accessing your credit report unless they are already doing business with you. Having a credit freeze in place stops scammers and criminals from opening accounts in your name or applying for loans in your name. When criminals attempt to do so, their application is denied because the business or lender they are using can’t access your data. Credit freezes do not affect your credit score or prevent you from using existing credit cards. However, to apply for new lines of credit, loans, or for a business to check your credit report as part of a legitimate transaction, you will need to unfreeze your credit.

Global Fraud Industry: Criminals around the world buy and sell stolen data from beaches and commercial data broker companies to perpetrate fraud and identity theft at large scale. They apply for credit cards, loans, and government benefits. Some file tax returns with fake information to claim the tax refunds of real U.S. residents, or list children as dependents on fraudulent tax returns. These criminals are opportunistic, and will target as many people as they can, regardless of how much money is in your bank account.

 

Requirements to Freeze Credit for a Child

Credit freezes must be requested via mail.

Credit freeze requests must be mailed to each of the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Each agency has instructions, a mailing address, and a printable form online for consumers to use. There is some discrepancy between each agencies’ instructions.

Required documents depend on the guardian and child circumstance, however, when the guardian is also the parent, the following documents are sufficient to request a credit freeze:

• A copy of the guardian’s identification (driver’s license, other government issued identification, social security card, or birth certificate)
• A copy of the child’s birth certificate
• A copy of the child’s social security card
• A copy of proof of address, such as the address on the driver’s license, bank statement, utility bill, or insurance statement

Each credit reporting agency will process your request (within 5 business days of receiving your mail) and mail you back a PIN.

 

Unfreezing a Child’s Credit

This PIN is important for when you need to unfreeze a child’s credit, and should be stored with important documents, like the original copies of birth certificates, social security cards, etc.

When a child who has previously had a credit freeze placed turns 16, they can remove the freeze online in the same way an adult can unfreeze their own credit.

Parents can take this relatively simple one-time action to protect young children’s identity for years in the face of more and more data breaches.

 

Serving Everyone 

CCSO is committed to serving all cook county residents, regardless of family situation or immigration status. Guardians who are not listed on the child’s birth certificate, youth experiencing foster care, and residents without a social security number can still freeze their children’s credit to protect against identity theft. CCSO has compiled a comprehensive resource listing documents the credit reporting agencies will accept as part of a freeze request.

 

Required Documents by Reporting Agency:

	Equifax	Experian	TransUnion
Request Document	Equifax Minor Freeze Request Form	Web Form (fillable, working to get paper option)	Any written request to place a “protected consumer freeze” on the named person’s file
Guardian Documents	Copy of proof of identity (copy of driver’s license, other government issued identification, social security card, or birth certificate) AND If the guardian is not listed on the child’s birth certificate, provide a court order, a power of attorney, or a foster care certification	Copy of driver’s license or another government issued identification card AND Proof of address such as copy of bank statement, utility bill, insurance statement AND If the guardian is not listed on the child’s birth certificate, proof of guardianship	Copy of proof of identity (copy of driver’s license, other government issued identification, social security card, or birth certificate) AND If the guardian is not listed on the child’s birth certificate, provide a court order, a power of attorney, or a foster care certification
Child Documents	Copy of child’s social security card AND Copy of child’s birth certificate	Copy of child’s social security card AND Copy of child’s birth certificate	Copy of proof of identity (copy of driver’s license, other government issued identification, social security card, or birth certificate)
Mailing Address	Equifax Information Services LLC, P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348	Experian PO Box 9554 Allen, TX 75013	TransUnion P.O. Box 380 Woodlyn, PA 19094

 

General Notice:

Any and all information contained in this notice of outreach is provided for informational purposes only and is not to be relied upon as legal or professional advice. By distributing this notice of outreach, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office is informing the public of existing rights to address identify theft prevention under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C.A. § 1681c-1). Please DO NOT send the Cook County Sheriff’s Office your Identification Documents or other personal information as it relates to this notice of outreach. For more information, please visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website on reporting identity theft and addressing identity theft prevention: https://www.identitytheft.gov/.