Forget notebooks and pens — parents should send their college-
bound kids to school armed with shredders, anti-virus software
and a lecture about identity theft. A report by the Federal
Trade Commission found that last year, 8 percent of identity
theft complaints came from those under 19 years old and 23
percent came from people in their 20s. Adam Levin, the chairman
and co-founder of Identity Theft 911, says that is partly
because many college students arrive on campus with new bank
accounts and credit cards but little financial education. "You
don't check your credit, you don't think you have credit.
Someone can literally create the perfect credit scenario and
then destroy it," says Levin. He says young people also make it
easy by oversharing on social networking sites and by constantly
staying connected via laptops or smartphones. "To you, your
smartphone is a communication device. To an identity thief, your
smartphone is a collection and data storage device, just like
your computer," says Levin. "So you ne