Won’t Someone Please Think of the Children?

Posted Aug 2 2010 by Marc Chase
We’ve previously blogged about identity theft and the dangers it poses, leaving many victims in its wake as it tears through your credit history like a hurricane or a jilted ex-lover, leaving you to pick up the pieces, wondering how it all went wrong.

Now, while you’re up to your eyeballs in bills and looking for debt relief, it seems those ID thieves have moved onto a new tactic – cradle-robbing.  No, they’re not actually out to steal your firstborn; just their brand new and as-yet-untouched social security number.

Many businesses online have started using computers to find unused social security numbers – typically those of children who haven’t even set up a bank account yet – then turning around and selling these untainted numbers under a new name to help people establish a whole new (and wholly fake) credit history, rack up a ridiculously high credit card debt, then just walk away scot-free.  Kinda like what Tim Robbins did in The Shawshank Redemption, but used for evil.