11-Month-Old Fully Employed: Identity Stolen - FOX 42: Omaha News, Sports and Weather; kptm.com |

11-Month-Old Fully Employed: Identity Stolen

Curt Casper

OMAHA (KPTM) - You might think because your kids are too young to have a credit card or bills, they're safe from identity theft.

Well, think again.

One family's baby apparently has a steady job, even though he still sleeps in a crib.

Luz Gallardl opened her mail one day to find a weird letter in it. It said she had received earnings from a poultry company. But it wasn't for her. It was for her 11- month-old baby.

"My son which is 11- months-old obviously that could not happen," she said, "it is practically saying your son's social is being used."

Children Identity theft is on the rise because thieves are realizing they can use that identity for a long time before anyone realizes it is happening.

An April 2011 study by Carnegie Mellon CyLab shows that 10 percent of identity thefts involve children; more than half a million per year.

Jamiee Napp knows all too well about identity theft. She has been fighting it for more than 6 years.

"One child that I do know, an 11 year old in California who had her social security number stolen before she was even issued it because someone guessed it," Napp said.

Napp told Fox 42 News that identity theft has more reward than risk because only 1 in 7 crooks ever get caught.

"It is actually very, very, very easy. Just because of the way the system works, it does not check to verify the age of the person," Napp said.

"I don't want the person to go to jail I just hope they learned their lesson and just don't do this to another person. I mean it is not right for the other person to end up with problems just because of someone else," Gallardl said.

If you are wondering how to protect your children Napp said to check out allclearid.com. She said it is an easy and free way to protect your child.

She also said more steps are being taken by the government to prevent identity theft including making social security numbers random.

If you would like to read more on children identity theft check out this website: http://www.cyblog.cylab.cmu.edu/2011/03/child-identity-theft.html