WTAS: Parents, Stakeholders, Bipartisan Members Celebrate House Passage of Curbelo Bill to Protect Children from ID Fraud

Press Release

Today, South Florida parents, national stakeholders and bipartisan Members of Congress celebrated the House passage of Representative Carlos Curbelo's (FL-26) "Protecting Children from Identity Theft Act" earlier this week.

The bipartisan legislation will help prevent identities from being stolen by a type of theft known as "synthetic ID fraud," which most often affects those with a limited credit history -- like children and immigrants -- negatively affecting their ability to get a mortgage or credit card. The "Protecting Children from Identity Theft Act" would combat this type of fraud by directing the Social Security Administration (SSA) to accept electronic signatures as consumer consent for financial institutions trying to verify customer ID, rooting out synthetic ID fraud. Curbelo introduced the legislation earlier this year with original co-sponsors Representatives Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-9), Kenny Marchant (TX-24), and Randy Hultgren (IL-14). The bill's Senate companion, which passed as part of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, was introduced by Senators Tim Scott (SC), Bill Cassidy (LA), Claire McCaskill (MO), and Gary Peters (MI).

Representative Carlos Curbelo (FL-26): "Unfortunately, South Florida is all too familiar with the lengths at which fraudsters will go through to steal an identity, but the fact that children's identities and personal information are being exploited at such alarming rates cannot continue to go unaddressed. This legislation is an effective, bipartisan solution that would limit synthetic ID fraud and help protect millions of identities from being stolen. We need to ensure that fraud detection is modernized to stop these crimes from continuing to negatively impact American families, and I hope the Senate will act to pass it quickly."

610 WIOD's Manny Muñoz: "Obviously very important to any of us who have children." (610 WIOD, 4/19/2018)

Financial Services Roundtable: "The prevalence of synthetic identity fraud has increased dramatically over the last few years, costing financial institutions billions and creating major challenges for victims -- most often children -- who will have to clean up the mess and reclaim their compromised SSN. Congressman Curbelo's legislation offers up a common-sense fix that will arm financial institutions with a fraud-fighting tool -- the ability to verify with the Social Security Administration whether a given name, date-of-birth and SSN of a potential customer are a match -- that can help stop synthetic identity theft at its origin."

Identity Theft Resource Center: "When criminals develop synthetic identities, they place high value on social security numbers belonging to children because they are a clean slate with no credit history. Identity thieves use numbers that belong to individuals who have no credit history, and are not actively using them to build credit. Children -- along with other populations -- absolutely fall into this category. While there is no panacea that will stop all identity theft, we can have a tremendous impact on the rates of child identity theft by developing privacy centric, smart data sharing solutions with the known sources of truth."

Original Co-Sponsor Representative Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-9): "We must protect our kids' futures from identity theft. Our commonsense bill takes aim at the financial criminals who target Arizona children by strengthening ID verification for everyday financial activities. Today, we worked across the aisle and took a critical step to protect our kids and give Arizona parents peace of mind."

Original Co-Sponsor Representative Randy Hultgren (IL-14): "Identity theft affects thousands, if not millions, of children and families a year. In Wilmette, Illinois, the Social Security Number of a 13-year old was used by a fraudster to open a credit card with a plan to use it to pay for plastic surgery. The Protecting Children from Identity Theft will strengthen the relationship between the public and private sectors in order to combat identity theft. I thank my colleague Rep. Curbelo's leadership on this issue in the Ways and Means Committee, and I am glad this important legislation passed the House. I now urge the Senate to take this up quickly so the President can sign it into law."

Original Co-Sponsor Representative Kenny Marchant (TX-24): "Child identity theft is a serious problem in our nation and current policy does not do enough to protect our children and grandchildren. I applaud my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for coming together to protect our nation's most vulnerable and bring relief to families whose lives have been upended by child identity theft. I hope the Senate acts just as swiftly to send this bill to the President's desk."

Senate Sponsor Senator Tim Scott (SC): "My colleagues in the House, led by my friend Congressman Curbelo, have taken an important step forward in efforts to protect our children and American families from identity theft," Senator Scott said. "As this legislation has also passed the Senate as part of a larger package, I am hopeful we can move forward and get this bill across the finish line!"

Senate Sponsor Senator Bill Cassidy (LA): "Some children have their identities stolen before they can even talk. This bill protects them and modernizes fraud detection to stop more people from becoming victims. I'm grateful to Congressman Curbelo for his leadership in the House on this issue and look forward to these protections being signed into law."

Senate Sponsor Senator Claire McCaskill (MO): "Scammers have left no stone unturned in stealing children's Social Security numbers to open fraudulent credit cards--wrecking kids' credit scores before they've even graduated high school. When it comes to protecting Missourians' hard-earned savings, and their identities, we need every tool available to stop this theft. This legislation would do just that--by bringing the Social Security Administration into the modern era with better verification steps to protect consumers."