What You Need to Know
Child identity theft is real, and you might not know it's happening for years. Here are some warning signs that could alert you to a problem:
- You get bills in your child's name for things you didn't order.
- You get a notice from the IRS saying your child didn't pay income tax or that their Social Security number was used on another tax return.
- You're turned down for government benefits because your child's Social Security number is tied to another account.
What You Need to Do
To find out if your child's identity is at risk, run a credit check with each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies. If something fishy is happening:
- Call all three credit reporting companies and ask them to remove all accounts associated with your child's name and Social Security number. Also ask them to place a fraud alert on your child's credit report.
- Report the matter to the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-438-4338, and print a copy of the report, which is called an identity theft affidavit.
- Take your identity theft affidavit to the police and file a report.
Fight Fraud with USAA's Help
By signing up for the following services, you can help us prevent criminal attacks or stop them cold when they occur.
- Electronic delivery of USAA documents keeps your information safer than paper statements.
- Enable security and fraud alerts to notify you of potential threats and keep you informed of possible fraudulent activity as soon as it's detected.See note1
- To combat constantly evolving online threats, USAA has adopted proven industry standards like multifactor authentication (MFA) to help protect your personal information and accounts. We encourage you to enable multifactor authentication on all accounts to strengthen your logon security. Visit usaa.com/mfa for more details.
Report Fraud
Tell us about identity theft, lost cards or suspicious activity.