Identity Shield

What your kid learns

• What counts as personal info

  Personal info includes your full name and birthday, your address and your school. It also includes passwords and your Social Security number. Together, they can unlock your identity.

• Your SSN stays home

  Your Social Security number (SSN) goes only to trusted places, like a bank. A grown-up handles it. Never type it into an app, a game or a quiz.

• Why kids are targets

  Thieves can open accounts in a kid’s name. Nobody checks a kid’s credit report, so the theft is often found years later.

• Shield up

  Grown-ups can check whether a child has a credit report, and freeze it. A freeze blocks new accounts in your name. Shred papers that show personal info.

The story: The nosy quiz app

A quiz app asks Ravi for too much personal info, and Jade helps Ravi stop.

1. Helper: Ravi is signing up for a free quiz app. It asks for a lot.
2. Ravi: Full name, birthday, address, school… and my Social Security number?
3. Jade: Stop! A quiz app doesn’t need that. Your SSN goes only to trusted places, through a grown-up.
4. Helper: Thieves use personal info to open accounts in someone else’s name. That’s identity theft.
5. Ravi: Who would want a kid’s info? I don’t even have a credit card.
6. Helper: That’s just it. Nobody checks a kid’s credit, so theft can go unnoticed for years.
7. Jade: Grown-ups can check a kid’s credit, and even freeze it. That blocks new accounts.
8. Helper: Your info is a key. Keep it private. Your SSN stays home.

The game: Protect your info

Five locked doors. Pick the safe choice to open each one. Pretend situations.

Games use pretend money and work with taps or a keyboard. Nothing is timed.

New words

identity theft

when someone uses your personal info to pretend to be you

Social Security number

a private ID number from the government

Also called: SSN

credit report

the record of borrowing in your name

credit freeze

a lock that blocks new accounts in your name

Questions at the end

• Which one is personal info to keep private?
• Who should get your Social Security number?
• Why can child identity theft go unnoticed for years?
• What does a credit freeze do?
• A form really needs your personal info. What’s the safest way to share it?

Remember this

Your SSN stays home.

Talk about it

What info about you is OK to share online, and what should stay private?

Try it at home: Where important papers live

1. With a grown-up, learn where your family keeps important papers.
2. You don’t need to see them.
3. Ask what gets shredded, and why.

The whole mission works with no account or app.

For grown-ups: live facts

• Report identity theft and get a recovery plan

  Source: IdentityTheft.gov (FTC)(opens in a new tab)

• How to protect a child from identity theft

  Source: FTC(opens in a new tab)

• Credit freezes and fraud alerts

  Source: FTC(opens in a new tab)

School standards

• Grades 6–8
• National Standards for Personal Financial Education: Managing Risk