Webinar : Child Identity Theft – Preventing and Protecting Children from Financial Abuse
OVERVIEW
When : 31 October 2025 – 14h00 – 15h00 CET, 8h00-9h00 NYT
Where : online via registration link https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bKrfdEi8Qc6eZG7h_uLm7g
Why : According to Javelin Research, approximately 1.25 million children in the U.S. – that’s 1 in 50 – were victims of identity theft and fraud between July 2021 and July 2022, leading to nearly $1 billion in total losses. Another concerning data point from the Federal Trade Commission is that child identity theft surged by 40% between 2021 and 2024.
LSEG Risk Intelligence joins Child Identity Protection (CHIP) in bringing their financial and child rights experience together to tackle the rising problem of Child Identity Theft. Global Head of Product & Data, LSEG Risk Intelligence, David White observes that :
“Criminals are growing more sophisticated in their ability to use tools like AI to create fake identities or capture personal information from social media or online gaming … most often children are victimised by a family member, frequently a parent.” It Takes an Industry: Combatting the Rise of Child Identity Theft White Paper 2025
Children’s rights require that they are fully protected from all types of abuses, including physical, sexual, mental and importantly as highlighted in this webinar – financial.
This goals of this webinar are to raise awareness about :
- Life-long devastating effects of Child Identity Theft
- How to prevent financial abuse
- Responsibilities to protect children whenever financial abuse occurs
Who :
- Mia Dambach, CHIP – Executive Director (moderator)
- Renata Furst , LSEG Risk Intelligence – Partner Manager
- Ruth Helena Alves da Mota, LSEG Risk Intelligence – Content Partnership Manager
- Bhaskar Mishra, UNICEF – Senior CRVS Expert
- Mark Beavan, INTERPOL – Head of the Crimes Against Children Unit
Further information :
Mia Dambach
Mia Dambach, CHIP – Executive Director (moderator)
Mia Dambach – is a human rights advocate with 20 years’ experience of working on children’s rights, starting her career as a children’s lawyer in Australia. As the Executive Director she brings with her leadership, project management and research skills to ensure that children’s identity rights are better protected worldwide. She has provided technical support, mostly on behalf on UNICEF, through evaluation missions in Cambodia, Denmark, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Ukraine and Viet Nam, legislative reviews and training in over 20 countries focusing on alternative care, adoption and surrogacy. She has contributed to reforms in international standards through this support as well as comparative research on illegal adoptions, search for origins, risks of financial contributions, kafalah and was an expert to the HCCH WG on illicit adoption practices and WG on parentage/surrogacy. She has successfully led multiple international inter-agency initiatives including three massive online courses that have reached over 50,000 participants. With a family background from Australia, the Philippines and Switzerland, she understands the importance of children having access to their origins.
Renata Furst
LSEG Risk Intelligence – Partner Manager
Renata Furst is a Partner Manager at LSEG Risk Intelligence, where she develops strategic partnerships to advance financial crime prevention. She is also an advocate for children’s identity rights. By telling her story of child identity theft in Brazil, Renata brought international attention to the issue in the LSEG Risk Intelligence award-nominated documentary One in Fifty.
In parallel to her professional role, she recently started the grassroots movement Crianças Sem Dívidas (“Children Without Debt”) in Brazil, where she is uniting victim voices to push for legal protection through media engagement, public awareness, and education on the topic of child financial abuse and identity rights in social media.
She holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law with a specialization in Criminology from the University of Cape Town and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).
Ruth Helena Alves da Mota
LSEG Risk Intelligence – Content Partnership Manager
Ruth Helena Alves da Mota is the Content Partnership Manager for LSEG Risk Intelligence, helping to advocate for and coordinate public private partnerships to fight financial crime. She is a subject matter expert in human trafficking and a member of the Expert Working Group in Modern day slavery and Human trafficking of the South African Anti-Money Laundering Integrated Taskforce, which published the report Follow the Money: How understanding financial flows and key indicators can help to fight modern day slavery and human trafficking in South Africa. Ruth is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).
Bhaskar Mishra
UNICEF – Senior CRVS Expert
Bhaskar Mishra works as the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics and Legal Identity Specialist with UNICEF HQ, New York. He also supports UNICEF’s work on the UN Legal Identity Agenda. From 2016 to 2021, Bhaskar worked with the UNICEF Tanzania CO as the Child Protection Specialist for Birth & Death Registration, supporting the Government of Tanzania in scaling up the simplified birth and death registration system. Previously, Bhaskar worked as the Deputy Registrar General responsible for implementing India’s birth and death registration system.
