Most people are acutely aware of the need to protect their identities, but parents may not realize that their children face the same threats. Child identity theft is dangerous because a child's credit history is basically a blank slate, and the probability of discovery is extremely low because most parents don't monitor their child's identity or credit history. In many cases, the theft may not be identified for years until the child applies for a student loan, takes out a credit card or makes a major purchase requiring a credit check.

Sometimes, parents are lucky and realize there might be a problem when they start getting calls or notices from bill collectors for unpaid balances on cars their child can't possibly own or credit cards that haven't been opened by anyone in the family. For children who don't find out about the problem until they are adults, the results can be devastating.

The number one identifier usually compromised is the child's Social Security number. According to a study by Carnegie Mellon CyLab, Social Security numbers are particularly valuable to thieves because they can be paired with any name and any birthdate, something prized for anyone involved in illegal immigration. They can be used to apply for jobs, a mortgage, a driver's license, utilities, phone and other services.  Alessandro Acquisti, a CyLab researcher, says their investigation found that "criminals are increasingly targeting minors' (even infants') SSNs for identity theft, and the SSNs of younger U.S. residents are much easier to predict than the SSNs of those born before the 1990s."