Hidden Crime: Parents Stealing Kids’ Identities

The Arizona Daily Star reports on a troubling trend in identity theft in that hard-hit state: Parents who steal information from their own children and use it to run up debt in their names.

What kind of parent would do that? The newspaper comes down harshly on them, referring to the moment teens “learn their financial reputations have been ruined by those who were supposed to love them most.”

Arizona already is a hotbed for identity theft, ranking first among the states in incidence per 100,000 people for several years running, followed by California, Florida, Texas and Nevada, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s latest survey data.


Some of these parents may have committed such crimes because they have run out of options – after all, desperate times can create desperate people. Regardless of the motivation, the story makes a case that this kind of crime is on the rise, making it all the more important for people to realize how damaging the effects of this crime can be for young people who have to enter into adulthood with their credit already in ruins. 

Maria Grijalva, a debt counselor at the nonprofit Consumer Credit Counseling Services in Tuscon, told the paper she worked with a half-dozen or so young victims last year. Some were high school graduates who came in for help after learning that their parents had ruined their credit. “It’s something that’s becoming pretty common.”

“When they tried to get student loans, they would find out they had three or four accounts in collection, utilities, credit cards, maybe a vehicle loan,” she said. “Nobody verified to see if their Social Security numbers belonged to a 14-year-old or an 18-year-old.”


Parents have the edge with this type of crime, because they can intercept any warning letters or credit-card applications that might come in the mail for the victim. It could be years before the theft is discovered, and even then young people can be reluctant to file a police report ratting out their parents.

Charles E. Nelson, psychologist and board member of the San Diego-based nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center, said children who are betrayed by their parents this way often suffer emotional problems and find it difficult to form long-lasting, trusting relationships with others.

“It's devastating, and kids at that age aren't prepared to handle it,” Nelson is quoted.