Foster kids suffer the highest degree of identity theft

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/105159/Identity-Theft-Through-a-Lifetime
Identity Theft Through a Lifetime
by Steve Santiago
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
provided by

Identity thieves discriminate to some degree. Anyone -- young or old, rich or poor -- can be a victim, but fraudsters generally prefer the easiest targets.

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The highest rate of child identity theft in California comes from children placed in the foster care system, according to Foley. Statistics indicate that a significant percentage of foster children who leave the system at age 18 are victims of identity theft, he says.

The crime can be insidious at this stage of life because oftentimes ID thieves have years to ruin a child's reputation before any damage is discovered.

"One of the cases we dealt with is a young lady who discovered on her 18th birthday that her mom had been stealing her identity for the past eight years," he says. "Here she is, 18 years old, and she's saddled with this horrendous credit history."