A study by Javelin Strategy & Research said that in 2017, more than 1 million children were victims of identity fraud. It's estimated that the victims' families paid at least $540 million because of the fraud, and in total, resulting in $2.6 billion in losses.
Two-thirds of those affected were at the range of age seven or younger, said the report.
While adults are the prime targets for their account balances, the innocence of young children provided hackers a new opening to do more damage, getting to know their parents' credit cards before anyone catches them.
The study also suggests that identities of minors are being "aggressively targeted." Among households notified of a data breach involving children, 39 percent fell victim to identity fraud. For comparison, only 19 percent of adults who were notified became fraud victims.
The Javelin study also revealed that children who had been bullied online were nine times more likely to fall victim to identity fraud than those who weren’t, with incident rates of 6.67 percent and 0.72 percent, respectively.
"Children who are unprepared to protect themselves from online risks are likely to encounter individuals who wish to target them emotionally or financially,” said Al Pascual, Javelin's senior vice president of research and head of fraud and security. "Bullied children also may be more vulnerable to fraud as they are taken advantage of when they seek friendship online."
But because children are much less likely to own a debit or credit cards, existing-card fraud (ECF) is comparatively rare.
This a huge contrast to fraud among adults, where ECF dominates the landscape.
For the study, Javelin conducted a survey from 5,000 adults who lived with a dependent minor at some point in the past six years. Javelin the collected the data between August and September 2017, provided insight into the risks that identity fraud poses to children.
Javelin advised parents and children's guardians to take limit identity theft by freezing their children’s credit reports, monitoring accounts for suspicious activity and keeping physical documents behind lock and key.