SALT LAKE CITY -- It's not something most parents give much thought to, but child identity theft is a growing problem in Utah and across the nation.

You'll hear the stories.

"Sometimes we'll get reports from a parent who has a newborn who received their social at birth," explained Scott Morrill, program manager with the Utah Attorney General's Office. "They received notification that somebody's been using their social for several years."
 --- (Like who? Illegal aliens?)

Child identity theft in Utah is significant and growing mainly because the state has a lot of kids, said Morrill.

"We're seeing at least 75 percent of our reports child identity-theft related," he said.

Much of that identity theft happens randomly, where thieves will pick numbers and sell them on the street.

"The only use for social security numbers should be for tax purposes. A child should not be using the social for any reason until they've turned the age of 17." -Scott Morrill

"If they're doing that, they're choosing random social security numbers, so basically anybody can become a victim," said Morrill. "Whether you lose your card or gave it to someone else for whatever purpose and there's not much you can do to prevent that."

The grim reality is that parents may not be able to completely prevent identity theft from reaching their kids. However, Utah residents have tools to be vigilant and perhaps stay one step ahead of perpetrators, said Morrill.

"Here in the state of Utah, we have legislation that allows us to kind of identify some of these cases," he said.

These legal channels allow state officials to see the numbers and the areas in the state where child identity theft is prevalent. However, while the state has the ability to identify the frequency and location of child identity theft activity, Morrill said it's still difficult for parents to pinpoint if it's happening to their children.

"There's really not any way for a typical family to identify if their child's social or other information is being used," said Morrill. "Or if someone else is using it for either employment or credit."

That's because accessing that information presents some difficult hurdles.

"For the most part," said Morrill, "you can't go to the Social Security Administration and ask them if somebody else is using their child's social for employment. The SSA just won't give you that information."

He also said the credit reporting agencies aren't an option either because their basic policy doesn't include maintaining information on children under the age of 17. However, parents can submit a request to have the credit reporting agencies check their files to see if anyone is using their child's social security number.

But even that avenue is not guaranteed.

"Then you run into the problem of who is the correct person," said Morrill. "If there's a match in the credit reporting agencies files that shows you submitted the request but someone else is using the same information, then you have to qualify who's really the correct person."

Morrill recommends keeping your child's identification in a secure location and not giving out that information for any purpose.

"The only use for social security numbers should be for tax purposes," said Morrill. "A child should not be using the social for any reason until they've turned the age of 17."

Some examples include:

"I know a lot of schools, soccer teams and things like that sometimes require social security numbers to sign up," said Morrill. "Never do that. Omit that information. Never provide a social."

Morrill also recommends monitoring your child's social networking sites because it's easy for thieves to connect the dots when it comes to providing personal information.

"They can pretty much identify where the person lives, where they go to school, who their friends are, and what kind of socio-economic condition they're in," explained Morrill. "Keep some of that information restricted."
source: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15096034

OBS.: Basically, an illegal alien - which the article doesn't mention, of course - can steal a child's SSN and use it for up to 17 years because the SYSTEM makes it very difficult to even go to to SS office and ask something as simple as: "Here's my id. I'm this child's parent. I want to know if my child's ssn is being used without permission."
If a parent can't get that information, illegals can use that ssn for years.
How convenient is that for the SS office not to provide the information to parents, even for a fee?