Now if someone else wants to use my SSN to pay my taxes for me, feel free.
What are the odds someone else has used your Social Security number? One in 7.
That’s the stunning conclusion of a San Diego company’s analysis of 290 million Social Security numbers, which found that 40 million of them have been attached to more than one name. The study, conducted by the fraud-fighting firm ID Analytics, is the first of its kind that’s been made available to the public.
[…]
The IRS often knows when this happens, when the imposter pays taxes. The Social Security Administration knows, too, for the same reason. And the nation’s credit bureaus usually know, because the imposter often ends up applying for some form of credit. Plenty of financial institutions also have access to this information.But no one is telling you. In short, all these government agencies and financial firms don’t think you have a right to know.
I have never liked using a short 9 digit number to control every part of your financial life. It always seemed rather… dumb.
I may not like extra laws, but in this case their should be one. Social security numbers should only be used for social security. Maybe, one time verification, but some very strict controls should be put on that. And any company that lets that information out should be fined in the 10’s of thousands for each incident.
Will this destroy some large companies? Yes, but what I am hoping will happen is companies will start storing only the information they need. Really their is no reason why a credit card company, car dealership, ect, should be keeping your SS# around after they verified who you are.
Here in Canada the equivalent is the Social Insurance Number ( OR SIN)
When the Canadian government introduced this system in the 1960’s it was promised , promised and promised that the SIN would never ever be used for identification by any means and was a Single Identifying Number only for administrative purposes
Not so – you need the SIN number to do almost anything financial – bank accounts, auto finance perhaps even to buy a pizza
How is it that politicians and bureaucrats are never held accountable for their promises or actions by any means what so ever
Never mind all of these alleged “privacy rules” to keep any one asking questions at bay
What a bunch of hogwash and lies
Problem is in precedent decisions made by (liberal? corrupt?) courts making it effectively not a crime to use SSN# belonging to others. Check legal records and that is what they say… Offender needs to do some other crime while using it to make it “important”. All because of irrational support for illegal aliens by those (leftist? corrupt?) judges.
Well, I get a statement every year from SS, and it just shows MY income. So I guess I am missing out.
Elvis mowed my lawn.
Sigh… My middle name is Aaron, not Aron… Get it right, people!!!
Oh, nobody can hear me because I’m dead… or AM I? Heh heh…
I routinely use one or two numbers off when forced to give info I don’t want to give.
The instructions printed on the paper attached to my social security card tell me to record the number separately for safekeeping and to sign and carry the original card in my purse or wallet. Are these instructions still being given today? Apparently there must have been a time when nearly every lost wallet would have included its owner’s signed social security card.
I remember when the secret key to unlock anyone’s personal financial transactions was their mother’s maiden name, but those were simpler times… (sigh)
At one time they were not to be used for identification and if you use them as a primary key in a database you will find out about duplicates real quick.
The Nation; Not for Identification Purposes
http://tinyurl.com/b2sjxx
Contact your 2 senators and ask them to comment back to you on whether it makes sense in light of this new information for them to write legislation which forces federal and state agencies to notify citizens when their SS number has been used improperly.
Oddly enough virtually nobody now asks me for that information except banks, employers, and others who handled tax information.
Hospitals seem to be an exception by I thought you were allowed to tell them to bleep bleep?
#2, the SIN number includes one mod-7 check digit as “security” against fraud, leaving fraudsters with a one in seven chance of getting it right if they are just guessing. Pros use calculators.
I imagine its the same here in the states except that they’ve already run out of numbers!
I know that each state is issued a block of numbers which further cuts down on availability.
123,45,6789 might seem to be adequate except that its actually 123,45,678 (check digit) and there are 363,000,000 citizens in the United States.
Ergo, you ran out of usable numbers (and 000-00-0001 is not a usable number,) a long while ago.
000-00-0001… that one’s mine.
Mine was. 5 years ago I got divorced and then when to rent an apartment with what I thought was good credit. Found out someone else had my same number and didn’t like paying his bills. Cost me over $2,500 to correct the government’s mistake.
In college in the early eighties, all of our test scores would be printed with “only” our SSN as an identifier. These printouts would then be posted in the hallways outside of class, so you could find your grade without bothering the instructor.
Much simpler times.
It would be nice if all the undocumented aliens using my social security number were paying into my account but unfortunately, as it was explained to me by a government flak, they know it’s not me. However, they do not share that information with the ICE (INS when this was explained). The reason for that is that the federal government encourages the use of illegal aliens in order to keep down wages and continue unsafe working conditions because no one here illegally would join a union or file an OSHA complaint.
#2, #12. The Canadian SIN is not all that bad. For example, the provincial health insurance people here used to use the SIN as your medical number, but not any more. I assume because it is an inappropriate use of the number and the feds stopped them. I’ve not had to show the actual SIN card in some decades (if ever), and the number is only ever collected by banks in relation to tax slips. YMMV. I may have been asked for it two or three times over those same decades, but if put on the spot, they’ve answered that, no, it is not required to give the SIN. So, on the surface at least, the great wait north isn’t doing too badly.