Are children at risk of identity theft?

Unfortunately, yes. In the United States, one out of every 50 children experienced identity fraud in 2021, according to new research by Javelin. Kids are attractive targets for cybercriminals because they tend to have clean credit. What’s more, parents don’t typically check kids’ credit scores, so the fraud can go undetected for years. In fact, many victims of this fraud type won’t discover the problem until they apply for their first line of credit — such as a student loan or a car loan — and get rejected due to fraudulent activity on their credit profile.