With the economic downturn many people have seen their finances and credit scores go south. A poor credit score can make it hard to rent an apartment or do any number of things essential to daily living. So an online advertisement offering a credit protection number (CPN) to clean up your credit score may sound like the perfect solution. The problem is that the CPN is really a stolen Social Security Number (SSN), often belonging to a child..

According to an August 2nd, 2010 AP article, scammers use computers to find random SSNs, and then check to see if anyone is using those SSNs to obtain credit. If the numbers are dormant, the scammers offer them to customers looking to improve their credit scores, charging from several hundred to several thousand dollars. The customer isn’t told he is buying someone else’s SSN; rather he is told that he is paying for a CPN – a credit-profile, credit-protection or credit-privacy number that will help him raise his credit score to over 700 in 6 months.

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