More Than 1 Million Kids Had Their Identities Stolen in 2017 (nypost.com)

More than 1 million children were victims of identity fraud in 2017, a new study from Javelin Strategy & Research found, costing a total of $2.6 billion. From a report: With limited financial history or existing account activity, children are the most likely to become victims of new-account fraud, the research showed. These attacks can occur before children even become active internet users, with some two-thirds of victims being under the age of eight. The overall numbers are likely even higher, said Al Pascual, research director at Javelin said, since their study relied on parents and guardians reporting cases of identity theft. In many cases, the parent or another relative may be the one using a child's identity to start a new account.

Comments

sadly humans fail, not systems

[tirnacopu]

Anecdotal story: me, 40 year old, fully employed for as long as I can remember, show up at a bank's desk, get rejected from various offers because of what I'm being told is "not enough history". How the hell does a 18 old get anything but a lollipop?