Lexington County parents be careful. Your child’s ID may be stolen.

Now there is something you can do about it.

A new federal law went into effect this month to make it easier for you to guard your child’s identity from fraud.

It lets you check credit files in your child’s name and freeze files at no cost.

Data-security experts told the Wall Street Journal that thieves target children.

They steal Social Security numbers to create fake IDs, open credit card accounts, borrow money and apply for public assistance.

The Experian credit-reporting company estimates identity theft will affect 25% of children before they become adults.

This is in a new banking law to allow unlimited, free credit freezes for adults.

Children’s clean credit histories attract criminals because parents rarely check them. That allows theft to go unnoticed for years until children reach college age and apply for credit cards and student loans.

A change in how the government assigns Social Security numbers to babies and new immigrants has made it easier to steal numbers without discovery.

Your children should not have credit files unless you have opened them – or criminals committing fraud have done it.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received 14,000 complaints involving identity theft of people 19 and younger.

Experts say it may be more as parents are unaware of children being targeted and don’t report it.