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Social [In]security
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1993-06-02
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2KB
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For illustrative purposes, let me show how with your social security number and
a little motivation someone can learn all of the intimate details of your life,
ruin your credit rating and get warrants issued for your arrest:
Your enemy gets your social security number. He goes to the local department of
motor vehicles and get a driver's license in your name by telling them he lost
it and giving them your SSN. Knowing your driver's license number (SSN in many
states) is usually sufficient ID for getting a replacement license. He takes the
driver's license to the social security office, tells them the appropriate SSN
and asks for "his" payment record. They tell him your employer, your income, any
interest bearing bank accounts you have and any securities you have bought or
sold in the last 3 years and some odd months. He can find out the medical
insurance company used by your employer and get your medical records from them
in a similar way. He can also use the employment information along with your SSN
to get credit cards in your name (credit card grantors use SSNs to access your
credit records, and want little information on you other than SSN, employer and
bank accounts). After buying a fast new car on your credit, he gets a lot of
speeding tickets on your license. The criminal warrants that show up when he
doesn't pay the tickets are attached to your social security number. If he
really wants to get you in trouble, he gets busted for drunk driving or hit and
run on your license, makes bail and throws the license away. You now have a
mountain of bad debt and a felony arrest warrant, not to mention an enemy who
knows every penny you have, what your credit record is like and all of your
medical history. He got it all by just knowing your SSN.
Paranoid? Sure. I don't think this sort of thing happens very often, but it
provides an idea of the power in those 9 digits. I personally believe that the
institutional (mis)use of SSNs is by far a worse problem than the kind of
criminal behavior I just described, but I find the latter is more persuasive to
people who are cavalier about having "nothing to hide".