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  Geebo 9:00 am on December 20, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: child safety ( 8 ), child safety kit, identity theft ( 108 ), Scams ( 1,386 )   

  Child safety kits can actually put your child at risk 

  

  By Greg Collier

  If you’re not acquainted with child safety kits, they serve as a means of compiling essential identifying information about your child in the unfortunate event that they go missing. These kits enable parents to promptly provide investigators with the necessary details to aid in locating their child. The information typically includes a DNA sample, such as strands of hair, recent photographs, and fingerprints, among other pertinent details. Numerous child safety organizations, such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), collaborate with local law enforcement to offer these kits to parents free of charge. Alternatively, you have the option to create your own kits at home, though it is advisable to have your children professionally fingerprinted by your local police.

  Regrettably, scammers may exploit a parent’s anxieties by attempting to peddle fake kits. These deceptive kits are essentially schemes designed to pilfer your child’s personal information for the purpose of identity theft.

  Families in Texas were recently targeted in just such a scam. During a Christmas parade, a man was approaching families and asking for their address and phone number to receive a free child safety kit. The man allegedly clammed to be associated with the local police department. When the man called the families for more information, some of the families caught on that this was a scam after being asked deeply personal information about their children.

  Children’s personal information is highly sought by identity thieves. With a child’s Social Security number, identity thieves can open many lines of credit or take out loans in the child’s name. These transgressions may not even be noticed until the child turns 18.

  To safeguard your child’s identity, exercise caution when sharing their information. Consider refraining from disclosing every detail of their lives on social media platforms. Additionally, it is advisable to routinely monitor their credit history. If you discover that your child’s identity has been stolen, it’s imperative to take swift action by freezing your child’s credit history. Freezing the credit will restrict unauthorized access to their financial information and help prevent further fraudulent activities. Contact the credit bureaus and follow their procedures to initiate a credit freeze for your child, adding an extra layer of protection against potential identity theft. Additionally, consider reporting the incident to the appropriate authorities and working closely with them to rectify the situation.

   

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  Geebo 9:00 am on March 1, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: child safety ( 8 ), child safety kit, identity theft ( 108 ), Scams ( 1,386 ), social media ( 81 )   

  Child safety kit scam returns to social media 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The Indiana State Police have received complaints about a scam circulating on social media. The scam involves the advertising of child safety kits. If you’re not familiar with child safety kits, they are a way of gathering your child’s identifying information in case the unthinkable happens, and they go missing. These kits allow parents to quickly give investigators the information needed to help find their child. This includes a DNA sample such as strands of hair, recent photos, and fingerprints among other information. Many child safety organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) partner with local law enforcement to provide these kits free to parents. You can even make your own kits at home, although you may want to have your children professionally fingerprinted by your local police.

  Unfortunately, scammers will try to prey on a parent’s fears to ‘sell’ phony kits. These phony kits are really just attempts to steal your child’s personal information to use for identity theft. In Indiana, the State Police there are saying that after some parents clicked on the social media ad for one of these kits, they received phone calls from aggressive people who wanted to come to the parent’s home to install an app on the parent’s phone. When you’re trying to protect your child’s safety, the last thing you need is an aggressive stranger in your home seeking your child’s information. While the report doesn’t state what the app’s real purpose is, one can safely assume that the app either steals your child’s information when you enter it, or installs malware to your device.

  The purpose of keeping your child’s information at hand is so that you can provide it to law enforcement quickly as possible if need be. Providing that information to a third party only delays giving the information to police.

  In identity theft, there is a huge market for children’s information including their Social Security numbers. This way a scammer can use the information to build up credit years before the parents or the child would notice.