Within the arms of a thief, your Social Safety Quantity is the grasp key to your identification.
With a Social Safety Quantity (SSN), a thief can unlock all the pieces from credit score historical past and credit score line to tax refunds and medical care. In excessive instances, thieves can use it to impersonate others. So, for those who suspect your quantity is misplaced or stolen, it’s necessary to report identification theft to Social Safety instantly.
A part of what makes an SSN so highly effective in identification theft is that there’s just one prefer it. Not like a compromised bank card, you’ll be able to’t hop on the telephone and get a alternative. No query, the theft of your SSN has critical implications. In the event you suspect it, report it. So, let’s have a look at the way it can occur and how one can report identification theft to Social Safety if it does.
Can I modify my Social Safety quantity?
Sure. Type of. The Social Safety Administration can assign a brand new SSN in a restricted variety of instances. Nevertheless, per the SSA, “Once we assign a special Social Safety quantity, we don’t destroy the unique quantity. We cross-refer the brand new quantity with the unique quantity to verify the individual receives credit score for all earnings beneath each numbers.”
In different phrases, your SSN is successfully for perpetually, which implies if it’s stolen, you’re nonetheless confronted with clearing up any of the malicious exercise related to the theft doubtlessly for fairly a while. That’s but one more reason why the safety of your SSN deserves specific consideration.
How does Social Safety identification theft occur?
There are a number of methods an SSN can find yourself with a thief. Some contain bodily theft, and others can take the digital route. To what extent are SSNs in danger? Notably, there was the Equifax breach of 2017, which uncovered some 147 million SSNs. But simply because an SSN has been doubtlessly uncovered doesn’t imply that an identification crime has been dedicated with it.
So, let’s begin with the fundamentals: how do SSNs get stolen or uncovered?
- A misplaced or misplaced pockets is a method, the place you truly lose your SSN card or somebody steals it. That is one motive to keep away from carrying it in your individual until completely obligatory. In any other case, preserve it saved in a secure and safe location till you want it, like when beginning a brand new job.
- Old school dumpster diving is one other, the place somebody will rummage by your trash, the trash of a enterprise, or perhaps a public dump seeking private info, which is why it’s necessary to shred any paperwork which have private info listed.
- Individuals can merely overhear you present your quantity if you’re on a name or over the course of an in-person dialog. In our digital age, we might not consider eavesdropping as a lot of a risk, however it nonetheless very a lot is. That’s why we strongly advocate offering such information in a safe, personal location out of earshot.
- SSNs can get stolen from a place of job, the place thieves find yourself with unsecured paperwork or info. The identical may go in your dwelling, which is one more reason to safe your bodily SSN playing cards and any info – bodily or digital – that incorporates them.
- Phishing assaults may also result in SSN theft, whether or not that’s by an assault geared toward you or at a enterprise that has entry to your private info like SSNs.
- Knowledge leaks, just like the Equifax leak talked about above, are one other manner. But whereas the Equifax breach concerned thousands and thousands of data, smaller breaches can expose SSNs simply as readily, just like the breaches which have plagued many healthcare suppliers and hospitals over the previous yr.
That’s fairly the record. Broadly talking, the examples above give good causes for retaining your SSN as personal and safe as potential. With that, it’s useful to know that there are solely a handful of conditions the place your SSN is required for official functions, which can assist you make choices about how and when to present it out. The record of required instances is comparatively quick, comparable to:
- When making use of for credit score or a mortgage.
- Making use of for or altering group well being care protection with an insurance coverage supplier.
- Transactions that require IRS notification, like working with funding corporations, actual property purchases, auto purchases, and so forth.
- Registering with a enterprise as a full-time or contract worker (for tax reporting functions).
You’ll discover that locations like physician’s places of work and different companies usually are not listed right here, although they’ll usually request an SSN for identification functions. Whereas there’s no legislation stopping them from asking you for that info, they might refuse to work with you if you don’t present that information. In such instances, ask what the SSN can be used for and if there’s one other type of identification that they’ll use as a substitute. In all, your SSN is uniquely yours, so be extraordinarily cautious so as to reduce its potential publicity to theft.
The way to report identification theft to Social Safety in three steps
Let’s say you notice one thing uncommon in your credit score report or get a notification that somebody has filed a tax return in your behalf with out your data. These are potential indicators that your identification, if not your SSN, is in jeopardy, which implies it’s time to act instantly utilizing the steps under:
1. Report the theft to native and federal authorities.
File a police report and a Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) Identification Theft Report. It will assist in case somebody makes use of your Social Safety quantity to commit fraud since it’ll present a authorized file of the theft. The FTC may also help by guiding you thru the identification theft restoration course of as properly. Their website actually is a wonderful useful resource.
2. Contact the companies concerned.
Get in contact with the fraud division at every of the companies the place you observed theft has taken place, allow them to know of your scenario, and comply with the steps they supply. Together with your police and FTC stories, you’ll have already got a few very important items of data that may allow you to clear your identify.
3. Attain the Social Safety Administration and the IRS.
Verify your Social Safety account to see if somebody has gotten a job and used your SSN for employment functions. Reviewing earnings related along with your SSN can uncover fraudulent use. You may also contact the Social Safety Fraud Hotline at (800) 269-0271 or attain out to your native SSA workplace for additional, ongoing help. Likewise, contact the Inner Income Service at (800) 908-4490 to report the theft and assist forestall somebody from submitting a tax return in your identify.
What do I do subsequent? Ongoing steps to take.
As we’ve talked about in a few of my different weblog posts, identification theft generally is a long-term downside the place follow-up cases of theft can crop up over time. Nevertheless, there are a number of steps you’ll be able to take to reduce the harm and guarantee it doesn’t occur once more. I cowl a number of of these steps intimately on this weblog right here, but let’s have a look at a number of of the highest gadgets as they relate to SSN theft:
Contemplate inserting a fraud alert.
By inserting a fraud alert, you can also make it more durable for thieves to open accounts in your identify. Place it with one of many three main credit score bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax), and they’re going to notify the opposite two. Throughout the year-long fraud alert interval, it’ll require companies to confirm your identification earlier than issuing new credit score in your identify.
Look into an all-out credit score freeze.
A full credit score freeze is in place till you raise it and can prohibit collectors from pulling your credit score report altogether. This can assist cease thieves lifeless of their tracks since approving credit score requires pulling a report. Nevertheless, this is applicable to official inquiries, together with any that you just make, like opening a brand new mortgage or signing up for a bank card. If that’s the case, you’ll have to take additional steps as directed by the actual establishment or lender. Not like the fraud alert, you’ll have to notify every of the three main credit score bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) if you need the freeze lifted.
Monitor your credit score stories.
As soon as every week you’ll be able to entry a free credit score report from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Doing so will mean you can spot any future discrepancies and give you choices for correcting them.
Join an identification safety service.
Utilizing a service to assist shield your identification can monitor a number of forms of personally identifiable info and warn you of doubtless unauthorized use. Our personal Identification Safety Service will do all this and extra, like providing guided assist to neutralize threats and forestall theft from taking place once more. You’ll be able to set it up in your computer systems and smartphone to keep within the know, deal with points instantly, and preserve your identification secured.
Your most unusual identifier requires additional care and safety
Of all of the types of identification theft, the theft of a Social Safety Quantity is definitely one of the vital doubtlessly painful as a result of it will possibly unlock so many very important features of your life. It’s uniquely you, even greater than your identify alone – at least within the eyes of collectors, banks, insurance coverage corporations, legal data, and so forth. Your SSN requires additional safety, and when you have any issues that it might have been misplaced or stolen, don’t hesitate to spring into motion.
