Safe From Scams: Protecting kids from identity theft

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- For many young people, June is a month for graduations and new beginnings and it will also be the first time many apply for credit.

"She was getting ready to go away for college," parent Michael Carroll said. "She applied for some small loans for books and stuff like that and she was denied the loans."

Carroll thought his daughter was denied because she didn't have any established any credit.

He and his wife helped her get the loan. But, she hit another road block while applying to get cable.

"We can't issue you any cable because there is a problem with your credit," he said. "My daughter said how can there be a problem with my credit I'm 18 and have no credit."

Frustrated and a little scared, Michael's daughter called him and they began to figure out what happened.

She contacted the three major credit bureaus and found out indeed somebody did get credit in her name when she was 8-years-old.

Turns out 10 years prior someone had gained access to her social security number and applied credit.

What had happened is when they applied for credit in her name, they ran the credit cards all the way to the limit and they never paid them, so basically she ended up with bad credit at 8-years-old.

In all, more than $15,000 worth of credit had been applied against her name.

We worked with the credit bureaus and get it all cleaned up. And now, it took a while it took a year to get all her credit clean. Now she has good credit and is going forward.

The best way to prevent your child's social security number from being used is to be proactive.

Remember to check your child's credit once a year.