Identity theft is not just for grown-ups anymore.

Tammy Mayle, a U.S. postal inspector for the Pittsburgh Division, which includes Butler County, said thieves are taking children's identities too.

“Usually the children are being victimized by their own parents,” Mayle said. “Either they have bad credit or they cannot get any loans, so they'll use their child's good credit.”

Postal inspectors investigate identity theft jointly with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Mayle said most identity theft is done online.

“If you have someone's date of birth and Social Security number you can steal someone's identity,” she said.

Anywhere such information is available, there is the potential for someone to take the information, she said.

“If you throw stuff away in the trash — those preapproved credit cards that say 'sign here' — people dumpster dive and go through trash,” Mayle said. “We tell everyone to shred everything.”

Mayle said when children receive credit card applications, information from financial institutions or offers to expand their credit, it could be a sign that their identity was stolen.

“That's not typical mail that a child should be receiving,” Mayle said.

Mayle said in addition to suspicious mailings, suspicious calls, such as sales calls, are also a sign of identity theft.

“Most of what we see related to theft of children's Social Security numbers is for getting work,” said Tracy Lynge, communications director for the Social Security administration office of the inspector general.

“When someone is not authorized to work in the United States, to work they need a Social Security number,” she said.

“Foster children may be at a higher risk of becoming victims of identity theft as they move around the foster care system because their sensitive personal information passes through the hands of many individuals,” Lynge said.

Charlie Johns, director of Butler County Children and Youth Services, said identity theft is not a pervasive problem for the 109 Butler County children who are in placements outside of their homes.

Nevertheless, Johns said the state is paying attention to the issue, especially for older children.

“MHY [Family Services] works with a lot of our independent living youth, and they help the youth to complete a credit check,” Johns said. “If there are any discrepancies, we can work to resolve those before it would hurt their future, or we would try to limit that damage.”

He said an annual credit check is part of independent living standards for children 16 or older who are involved in CYS.

County Detective Scott Roskovski is too familiar with what can happen when someone uses a child's Social Security number.

Roskovski is the lead investigator for a current Butler County case of a man awaiting trial charged with obtaining $260,000 of fraudulent private student loans. The man got the loans using his stepdaughter's identity.

“The biggest issue that I had with this is how a young person with no credit is able to obtain that much. These were private education loans,” Roskovski said.

Roskovski said an annual credit check is free for anyone.

“If you have a child going away to college, you should check their credit to make sure there aren't any unauthorized accounts opened in their name,” Mayle said.

“Prevention is key,” Lynge said. “[Government agencies] can only do so much and the public has to take steps to protect their own information and to monitor their accounts, their credit reports and their Social Security earnings statements so they can identify any misuses quickly.

“Even with children. You may not think you need to check your child's report,” she said.

Lynge also recommends that parents check earnings statements for their children.

“Be very cautious about providing a child's Social Security number,” Lynge said.

“The Social Security Administration cannot prevent any entity or company from requesting a Social Security number,” Lynge said. “But there are only a few legitimate uses that require it, such as banking, other types of benefits and taxes.”

When anyone suspects identity theft, Mayle said it can be reported to U.S. postal inspectors.

She said the major credit reporting agencies should be notified online or by phone with a request for a fraud alert. A fraud alert adds extra steps of identification before credit cards or loans are approved.

She said to alert banks and credit card companies. All PIN codes should be changed immediately.

“Keep a good record of the people and numbers you discussed your case with and all reports and supporting documentation,” Mayle said.

It's another safeguard.

“Anyone can be a victim,” she said. “It's a problem for all of us.”

• To report suspected identity theft to the U.S. Postal Service, call 1-877-876-2455.• For more information on identity theft, visit postalinspectors.uspis.gov or consumer.ftc.gov. Other resources include idtheft.gov and oig.ssa.gov.• To check for earnings statements in a child's name, visit socialsecurity.gov online and create an account through mysocialsecurity.gov.• Citizens can submit allegations of Social Security fraud online at oig.ssa.gov or by calling 800-269-0271 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.