The Federal Trade Commission reports that an estimated 9 million people will become victims of identity theft this year.

Parents, keep in mind that 31 percent of those people will be children, teenagers or young adults.

Identity thieves target young people because of their unblemished credit histories and because the theft often goes undetected for months if not years, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences reports.

Teenagers and children will likely have no indication that their identities have been stolen because they have no credit or any reason to check their credit report.

More teens are seeing their identities stolen. Why? They’re spending more of their lives online and they have so much personal information on their cellphones.

Basically, identity theft occurs when an unauthorized person uses someone’s personal information to start new credit accounts, commit crimes in another person’s name, get loans or even secure a job.

Other types of identity related crimes include the use of an existing credit card or bank account.

Thieves can obtain personal information by going through your trash, watching you use your computer or phone in a public place, stealing mail or stealing a cellphone.

Victims often find their identity has been stolen after their credit has been affected. In some cases people have been denied loans or even jobs because the theft has damaged their credit.

Financial losses plus the emotional toll can create a great deal of stress. Victims are often left feeling powerless, angry, hopeless and frustrated and have a hard time trusting other people, UGA reports.

Young adults are especially susceptible because teens with unused social security numbers have no credit rating.

Teens’ good credit usually sits unused until they’re old enough to obtain a credit card. A criminal can steal teens’ social security numbers, impersonate them and then use the numbers to obtain credit cards and loans, which they don’t pay back.

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers these tips:

• Teach your children to be stingy with personal information. The rules for keeping teens’ identities safe are the same for keeping adults’ safe.

• They should never carry their Social Security card on them. Instruct them to never to give out their Social Security number or their mother’s maiden name.

• They should never give out personal information over the telephone unless they initiate the call. Also be sure to shred all sensitive or financial records before throwing them away.

• Remind them that they should never respond to emails requesting personal or financial information.

• Teach teens to choose strong passwords and change them often.

• Install a firewall on home computers and remind family members to keep all software programs updated.

• Teens should be warned to not post identifying information about you or your family on social media pages or other places online, and not to use the “save password” function on important accounts.

• Check your child’s credit at least once a year or place a preventative freeze on their credit. If the child or teen does have a credit report, than it is advisable to freeze their credit until they are 18, according to the Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection.

For more information, visit www.consumer.georgia.gov.

Sandra Stringer is a nutrition educator with the UGA Cooperative Extension office in Hall County. Contact: 770-535-8290. Her column appears biweekly on Wednesdays and on gainesvilletimes.com/life.