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Public Knowledge Center > Identity Theft |
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Social Security Number Theft and Misuse
Because it is the most widely utilized personal identifier, most cases of Identity Theft and Identity Fraud involve some form of theft and/or misuse of the victim's Social Security number. Nearly every company requests it, and American consumers have become inappropriately conditioned to provide it -- whether or not the requestor has a legal right or legitimate need for it.
The SSN is, in essence, the key to our identities which can unlock or provide access to vast amounts of personal and confidential information about us.
The Social Security number is directly linked to a consumer's credit file and is required for bank accounts, so financial identity theft cases will almost certainly involve the theft and misuse of the victim's SSN. However, this is not the only means by which an SSN can be misused. In non-financial account cases involving the theft and misuse of the victim's Social Security number, the thief may use the victim's SSN to obtain employment, avoid filing or paying taxes, or to obtain benefits in the victim's name.
Non-financial misuse of a victim's Social Security number can be exceptionally difficult to discover, because such misuse is generally not uncovered through traditional methods of review or monitoring. For example, criminals or illegal aliens may utilize the victim's SSN for years in order to gain employment and generate income. The victim may discover the fraud only because the thief failed to pay the resulting income taxes, and created significant tax liabilities or penalties for the victim. Others may utilize the victim's SSN to apply for and receive Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, or other government benefits, thus depleting the victim's own benefits and/or creating potential garnishments or charges of benefits fraud. The SSN is also regularly utilized for the owner's medical records and insurance policies, which can lead to another form of the crime known as Medical Identity Theft.
The following are two real life examples of Social Security Identity Theft:
Case #1 - In 2006, federal raids were conducted at six Swift & Company meat-packing plants located throughout the United States. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested more than 1200 Swift company employees after ICE uncovered the operations of several identity theft rings that had supplied fraudulent or stolen identities and Social Security numbers of hundreds of U.S. citizens.
Case #2
- A woman in Chicago was surprised to be turned down for employment at a local Target store. The reason? She already worked there, or at least the records showed that her Social Security number worked there. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that 37 different illegal immigrants had used her Social Security number to obtain employment at various companies, including the Target store where she had applied.
©Copyright 2008 by Michael Barnett. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use, copying, or distribution without permission is prohibited.
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