The Identity Theft Resource Center and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse have both been active in trying to highlight the growing risks of children having their identity information misused for fraud. In too many cases, the perpetrators are their own parents. Although I generally don’t report all these cases on this blog, here’s a case in Maryland where a parent has been sent to jail as reported by Ryan Marshall:
A Westminster woman will spend time in jail for helping her husband steal their children’s identities, but a judge will allow her to seek drug treatment while she’s incarcerated.
Emily Campbell, 27, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in the Carroll County Detention Center at a hearing in Carroll County Circuit Court.
Read more on Carroll County Times.
So while mom’s in jail, will dad, who also participated in the ID theft, be held responsible for straightening out the children’s records?
And how will the three young children feel years from now when they find out that not only did their parents take advantage of them for illegal purposes, but that mommy went to jail over it? Will they worry whether mommy resents them?
The credit history is the easiest thing to resolve. The potential psychological damage to the kids is a whole other story.