Hopefully, you’ve become extremely vigilant about fending off identity theft and fraud and helping your parents and grandparents from becoming victims of an ever-increasing variety of scams.
However, there is one vulnerable population that could be flying under your radar: Your children.
According to research conducted by security.org, more than 10 million children under the age of 18 have been victims of identity theft or online fraud and scams.
Why is this happening?
Kids have a clean credit history
Even children who don’t have bank accounts or credit cards may still have a credit history. And since they don’t have a history of missing payments, their credit record may be clean.
In many cases, all a scammer needs is a child’s name, Social Security number and date of birth to open a credit card or apply for a loan under their name.
Many children are open to digital manipulation
According to research from Regis College, children in the U.S. between the ages of 8 and 12 spend, on average, five hours a day looking at screens (not including school-related usage), and nearly 70% of children have a smartphone by age 12.
What's more, 95% of teenagers report using at least one social media platform on a regular basis, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Many parents don’t actively monitor the online activities of their children, leaving them vulnerable to a wide range of scams.
In many cases, adults pose as children and use online communities to convince children to provide their personal information. Or ads on certain platforms offer enticing games or apps a child can purchase through debit cards or by providing their bank account information.
Scammers count on the fact that many children try to hide their online activities from their parents. And when they become victims of scams, they may be too ashamed or afraid to tell Mom or Dad.
How to protect your children
Short of preventing your child from having access to a smartphone or the Internet, there are steps you can take to help protect them against online scammers and identity thieves.
- Freeze your child’s credit history. The three credit reporting agencies—Experian, Equifax and Transunion—allow you to place a freeze on your child’s credit history. This will prevent credit card companies from being able to check your child’s credit record, a necessary step when scammers want to open new credit cards in your child’s name.
- Monitor your child’s online activities. As a parent, you have the right to review online activities on your child’s smartphone, tablet or laptops. This includes the social media platforms and gaming and entertainment apps they use, websites they have visited, photos and videos and email messages, texts and chats.
- Be on the alert for fraudulent activity. Regularly check their email, voicemail and texts for phishing messages. Keep an eye for legitimate warning messages from banks or credit companies. Such messages may indicate that scammers may have opened accounts in their name.
- Use parental controls. Most digital devices have parental controls that can keep children from accessing dangerous websites and apps. If you’re paying for the devices or the Internet access, you have a right to use these controls.
- Educate your kids on sound identity protection practices. Teach them to use long, hard-to-guess passwords and multi-factor authentication when accessing online accounts. Stress the importance of not disclosing sensitive personal information in public online settings or private chats. And educate them on the many different ways identity thieves and online scammers try to con people into giving them sensitive information.
- Secure your kids’ personal information at home. Do you know where your children’s birth certificates, Social Security cards, and passports are? If not, find them and store them in a secure place, like a fireproof safe where it won’t be easy for visitors to find them.
- Convince them to let you know immediately if they think they've been a victim of a scam. The best way to achieve this is to assure them you will not be angry with them or punish them.
If your children become victims, make it a learning experience by having them at your side as you take various steps to try to rectify the damage. This way, they can see the consequences of their actions and the steps needed to correct them.
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This article was authored by David Jaeger and Jeffrey Briskin with additional content from Broadridge Advisor Solutions, Inc. David is a financial advisor with Canby Financial Advisors, LLC, an Investment Adviser registered with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement by the SEC nor a statement about any skill or ability. David can be reached at 508.598.1082 or djaeger@canbyfinancial.com. Jeffrey Briskin is Director of Marketing at Canby Financial Advisors.
©2026 Canby Financial Advisors, LLC and Broadridge Advisor Solutions, Inc.