The new school year means new school subjects for students, but parents can learn something too about protecting the identity of their children.
"Children are especially good targets because they have zero credit history and they have no question banking transactions and history," said Bo Wilson with the Better Business Bureau.
Wilson was a guest on Monday's Afternoon News Wrap with Brian Stewart and he said the place to start is the forms parents fill out at school registration or in the doctor's office. "Make sure you know what they're going to do with those documents," said Wilson. "If a business or school asks for a social security number for your child, ask those questions about why they need it, where and how is the information being stored, how long is it being stored, how will it be terminated, and who has access to it."
Wilson said don't forget that school often provide a school ID card for students, and there are certain cards they won't need to carry. "Don't allow your child to carry around the social security number or social insurance number, leave that at home, locked in a safe place," Wilson said.
Wilson also encouraged parents to talk to their kids about online safety, adding kids as young as 13 are playing games online or using apps like Snapchat.
Meanwhile, parents can keep kids and themselves safe while shopping for school supplies online. Wilson encourages any online shopper to make sure the website they are shopping on is secure. "Most people probably do, because they shop on Amazon or Walmart.com or some big box store. Even those can still be hacked but the number one rule I always tell people is to look at the address bar, make sure it's got the 'https' in it and most of the time it has a lock on it, a lot of the times it says secure. You know you're being protected if you're on a website that has security in place."
Wilson also said to look up the website's privacy policy and contact information. "If they only have an email as a point of contact, you may want to take that as a big read flag that it's not a secure website."
Wilson also said to do the research on new websites, be aware that the lowest price may not be the best choice and to check the user reviews before buying.
