Incidences of identity theft are growing. Being hit particularly hard are the young—often the very young. Anytime a child is a victim, the crime is reprehensible. But what about when the crime is financial and the suspect is a parent?
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, more and more young adults are discovering they were the victims of identity theft, when they were children. And most often, the people accused of using their social security numbers and names are their parents.
Parents seem to be using their children’s information to gain credit where they otherwise couldn’t. Perhaps they put the utilities or apartment in their child’s name because they know they couldn’t personally pass a credit check. Then, when they get behind on payments, they are dooming their kids to a bad credit score and the same problem once they reach adulthood.
Despite some parents’ views that their children’s credit is their business and there’s to use as long as the kids are under their roof, the using of someone else’s identity to get credit is a criminal offense, no matter what the victim’s age is.
Typically we hear about the elderly being taken advantage of with fraud crimes. But, this story shows even the very young can be victimized.
Identity theft involves using the personal identification information of another person to gain credit, value, or money in their name. This could be taking out a credit card or applying for a loan. under Georgia law, identity theft is a serious offense.
For your first charge of identity theft, you are facing up to 10 years in prison and $100,000 in fines. If this is your second offense, your potential sentence jumps to 15 years. As you can see, this is considered a very serious criminal offense.
Contact us to discuss the details of your case involving any criminal charge in Georgia.
Leave a Reply