Summary: From the "can't believe its true" file: No one under the age of 18 can legally purchase a home. However, a four year old baby as well as hundreds of other minors managed to provide tax payer identification numbers (TIN) as part of the qualification process in receiving U.S. federal tax credits reserved specifically for first time home buyers. "Through July 25, 2009, we identified more than 580 taxpayers younger than 18 years of age who claimed almost $4 million in First-Time Homebuyer Credits. The youngest taxpayers receiving the Credit were four years old. Contract law generally exempts children under the age of 18 from being bound by the terms of a contract. Therefore, it is unlikely that these taxpayers would have entered into an arm’s-length transaction for the purchase of a home." In other words, someone was using the unauthorized social security number of some unsuspecting victim for perpetrating identity theft fraud. So, while technically its not supposed to be possible for a 4 year old child to sign documents to purchase a home in America, we see again that it is quite entirely possible for identity theft to be committed using a tax payer identification number. Our tip for today is to pull a credit report and especially a public records profile (pip) on your children to insure no crafty identity theft fraudsters haven't already run a scam. PS: Please share this important identity theft tip with loved one or friend. This article may be published in it's entirety on your site. Article courtesy of http://www.idtheftsecrets.blogspot.com/
