More than one million children were the victims of the identity fraud in 2017 which resulted in the total loss of $2.6 Billion dollars, with $540 Million attributing to the cost families had to face. The study was according to the 2018 Child Identity Fraud Study conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research.
The report Shows that data breaches are causing damage to children. However the ratio of Child to Adult identity theft is 39:19 , this may in part be due to limited financial activity that children posses.
“Child identity fraud is a serious problem and is frequently overlooked as the public focuses on high-profile breaches involving the personally identifiable information of adults,” said Al Pascual, Senior Vice President, Research and Head of Fraud & Security at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Child identity fraud has unique characteristics that make it particularly hard to prevent, though there are steps that parents and guardians can take to help keep children safe.”
The study also finds a strong connection between fraud and bullying. Minors who are bullied online are nine times more likely to be the victims of the fraud. In person, bullying is associated with higher fraud amounts.
Pascual said that in many cases fraud and bullying are not committed by the same person but arise from the same underlying vulnerabilities. Children who are unprepared to protect themselves from these situations. Most children are victims of fraud when they are taken advantage in cases where they seek friendship online, further information can help identify such issues here.
Most of the children don’t have their own credit cards and use the cards of their parents which ends up causing identity fraud among the adults.
There are ways you can train your children to protect themselves against fraud. There are some recommendations that were issued by the government to help train your children to protect themselves online.
