Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But to some, it’s not far off.

I’m talking about ID theft and how it poses an enormous risk to the nation’s credit system. Apparently, ID thieves are now targeting children’s Social Security numbers. According to a recent article from the Associated Press:

Hundreds of online businesses are using computers to find dormant Social Security numbers — usually those assigned to children who don’t use them — then selling those numbers under another name to help people establish phony credit and run up huge debts they will never pay off.

What’s worse is that authorities have not quite figured out a way to prosecute these people since they never actually use the stolen Social Security numbers. Instead, thy refer to CPNs — or credit privacy numbers, which are set up using a Social Security number. And presently, federal law allows the ability for someone to legally use a private ID (CPN) for financial reporting purposes instead of a Social Security number.

Apparently, online companies are using the internet to find random Social Security numbers. The numbers are then “run through public databases to determine whether anyone is using them to obtain credit. If not, they are offered for sale for a few hundred to several thousand dollars.”

The businesses that sell these numbers have been compared to drug dealers.

“There’s good stuff and bad stuff,” said Julia Jensen, an FBI agent in Kansas City. “Bad stuff is a dead person’s Social Security number. High-quality is buying a number the service has checked to make sure no one else is using it.”

This is an enormous problem that, because of its difficulty to detect, is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, some are worried about another financial collapse because of this fraud.

“If people are obtaining enough credit by fraud, we’re back to another financial collapse,” said Linda Marshall, an assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas City. “We tend to talk about it as the next wave.”

It’s an invisible crime, as some are calling it. And as we all know — it’s not so easy to stop something you can’t see. Check your credit report often, and that of your children — your 4 year-old could have a dreadfully low score.

The above article is reprinted from the Risk Management Monitor - the official blog of Risk Management magazine.