Has your newborn’s identity already been stolen?

Imagine discovering that your newborn’s brand new Social Security number has already been used to construct what Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, calls a “Frankenstein monster of identity.”

Parents may discover their newborn’s tarnished Social Security number when they try to use it to file taxes, apply for government benefits or attempt to freeze the baby’s credit. Suddenly, an application or tax form is kicked back.

“And the parents go, ‘What are you talking about?’ They don’t even know what this means,” says Velasquez, whose nonprofit helps victims of identity theft. “And ... through no fault of their own, they’re left holding the bag and they are the ones that are now responsible for cleaning up that mess.”

An identity theft victim at birth?

The rise in synthetic identity theft — where criminals piece together a fake consumer — is an unintended consequence of Social Security number “randomization,” which was initiated in 2011 to expand the pool of available numbers, she says.

Old Social Security numbers had clues to geography and birth dates in the digits. Randomizing the numbers made it harder for scammers to guess them — but also made it harder for creditors to spot the bogus use of a Social Security number on an application.

Before randomization, criminals typically purchased minors’ Social Security numbers on the black market or tracked down the numbers of dead children. But now, sometimes the number “is just completely made up,” Velasquez says. Fraud-detection measures used previously have become ineffective because it’s no longer possible to pair a Social Security number with a location or approximate age.

Criminals often start with a not-yet-issued Social Security number to create a fake identity. If it works, the number becomes attached to a credit file for a consumer who doesn’t exist.