Child identity theft affects roughly one in every 50 children in the United States each year — about 1.25 million minors and nearly $918 million in family losses annually, according to a 2021 study by Javelin Strategy & Research. Children are targeted more often than adults because their Social Security numbers carry no credit history, and the fraud often goes undetected until the child applies for a first student loan, job, or apartment as a young adult.
How Common Child Identity Theft Is
Javelin’s 2021 Child Identity Fraud Study, the most widely cited dataset on the issue, put the annual rate at one in 50 U.S. children with $918 million in total fraud losses. A Carnegie Mellon CyLab study of more than 40,000 minors found 10.2 percent had experienced some form of identity theft or fraud, compared to 0.2 percent of adults. Teenagers aged 15 to 18 made up the largest share of victims at 43 percent, but children of every age were affected, including infants.
The Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2025 Trends in Identity Report found that among people reporting identity theft on behalf of someone else, 34 percent were reporting for a child or dependent. The most common concern for victims under 18 was fraudulent employment — someone using the child’s Social Security number to get a job — which accounted for 42 percent of child-related reports.
Why Children Are Targeted
A child’s Social Security number is valuable precisely because it is a blank slate. Children have no credit history, no existing accounts, and no reason to check their credit reports, so a thief who steals a four-year-old’s number may have more than a decade of undetected use ahead.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Check To See if a Child Has a Credit Report? Fraudsters use stolen numbers to open credit cards, take out auto loans, apply for government benefits, or secure employment under a name the child may not recognize for years.
A significant share of the crime comes from inside the family. Javelin’s research indicates about 27 percent of child identity fraud victims were targeted by a family member or close friend, often a relative trying to work around damaged credit of their own. These cases are hard to detect because the perpetrator has easy access to the child’s documents, and families are often reluctant to report.
Where Children’s Data Gets Exposed
Schools and medical providers are two of the largest sources. Schools collect Social Security numbers, addresses, and dates of birth under the protection of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and a Department of Education guide for parents warns that breaches of that data can lead directly to identity theft.2U.S. Department of Education. A Parents Guide for Understanding K-12 School Data Breaches Medical offices hold the same categories of information under HIPAA.3HHS.gov. Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule Mobile apps and online games are another growing source; the FTC updated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rule to require separate parental consent before companies can share a child’s personal information with third parties for purposes like training artificial intelligence.
Some thieves take a real child’s Social Security number and pair it with a fabricated name, date of birth, and address to build a “synthetic” identity. Because the number has no credit history, a credit bureau will often create a new credit file the first time an application is submitted, even if that application is denied.4Federal Reserve Banks. Executive Summary – Synthetic Identity When Payments Fraud Wears a New Face That new file is all the fraudster needs to start opening accounts.
Signs Your Child’s Identity Has Been Stolen
Child identity theft usually shows up through unexpected communications directed at the child. Watch for:
- Pre-approved credit card or insurance offers arriving in your child’s name, which suggest a credit file already exists.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Check To See if a Child Has a Credit Report?
- Debt collection calls or letters demanding payment on a credit card, cell phone account, or utility bill in your child’s name.5Federal Trade Commission. How To Protect Your Child From Identity Theft
- Being told your child already has government benefits, such as health coverage or nutrition assistance, when they do not.5Federal Trade Commission. How To Protect Your Child From Identity Theft
- An IRS notice indicating that your child’s name or Social Security number appeared on a tax return you did not file.6Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP01 Notice
- Social Security earnings statements showing wages your child never earned. You can check the record through the Social Security Administration.7Social Security Administration. Review Record of Earnings
A simple starting check is asking each of the three major credit bureaus whether your child has a credit report at all. A child under 18 generally should not, so any file that turns up is worth investigating.5Federal Trade Commission. How To Protect Your Child From Identity Theft
Freezing a Child’s Credit
Federal law lets parents and guardians place a free credit freeze on the credit file of a child under 16, which blocks anyone from opening new accounts until the freeze is lifted. Minors who are 16 or 17 can request and remove a freeze themselves.8Federal Trade Commission. Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts
You have to contact each of the three major bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — separately. Parents typically need to send proof of authority, such as the child’s birth certificate, along with identification for themselves and the child.9Federal Trade Commission. New Protections Available for Minors Under 16 Once in place, the freeze stays until you specifically request its removal.
What To Do if Your Child Is Already a Victim
If unauthorized accounts have already been opened, the FTC lays out a three-step recovery process:
- Contact the fraud department at every company where an account was opened in your child’s name. Ask them to close the account and send written confirmation that your child is not responsible for the debt.5Federal Trade Commission. How To Protect Your Child From Identity Theft
- Notify Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion that fraudulent accounts were opened using your child’s information, and ask them to remove those accounts from the credit report.
- After the fraudulent accounts come off, place a credit freeze on your child’s file to prevent new fraud.
Then report the theft to the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov. The site generates an official FTC Identity Theft Report and a personalized recovery plan with additional steps for your situation.5Federal Trade Commission. How To Protect Your Child From Identity Theft
Criminal Penalties for the Offender
The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 made using another person’s identification to commit fraud a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1028.10Congress.gov. S.512 – Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 Identity theft involving certain documents or fraud exceeding $1,000 in a year carries up to 15 years in prison,11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1028 with a maximum fine of $250,000 under the general federal felony fine statute.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 3571 – Sentence of Fine
When identity theft is committed during another felony, prosecutors can charge aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A. That adds a mandatory two-year prison sentence that must run consecutively, on top of the sentence for the underlying crime.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1028A – Aggravated Identity Theft Courts can also order restitution, requiring the offender to repay the victim’s actual losses, including money spent repairing the damage.