How to Report Identity Theft to Social Security

Within the arms of a thief, your Social Security Quantity is the grasp key to your identification. 

With a Social Security Quantity (SSN), a thief can unlock every little thing 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, should you suspect your quantity is misplaced or stolen, it’s necessary to report identification theft to Social Security immediately. 

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 possibly can’t hop on the cellphone and get a substitute. No query, the theft of your SSN has critical implications. If you happen to 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 Security if it does. 

Can I alter my Social Security quantity? 

Sure. Type of. The Social Security Administration can assign a new SSN in a limited number of cases. Nonetheless, per the SSA, “When we assign a different Social Security number, we do not destroy the original number. We cross-refer the new number with the original number to make sure the person receives credit for all earnings under both numbers.”  

In different phrases, your SSN is successfully for eternally, 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 explicit consideration. 

How does Social Security 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 exposed 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 technique, the place you really lose your SSN card or somebody steals it. That is one cause to keep away from carrying it in your particular person except completely obligatory. In any other case, hold it saved in a protected and safe location till you want it, like when beginning a brand new job.  
• Old style dumpster diving is one other, the place somebody will rummage by way of your trash, the trash of a enterprise, or perhaps a public dump in the hunt for private data, which is why it’s necessary to shred any paperwork which have private data listed. 
• Folks can merely overhear you present your quantity whenever you’re on a name or over the course of an in-person dialog. In our digital age, we could not consider eavesdropping as a lot of a risk, nevertheless it nonetheless very a lot is. That’s why we strongly suggest offering such data 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 data. The identical may go to your dwelling, which is one more reason to safe your bodily SSN playing cards and any data – bodily or digital – that comprises them. 
• Phishing assaults also can lead to SSN theft, whether or not that’s by way of an assault geared toward you or at a enterprise that has entry to your private data like SSNs.  
• Knowledge leaks, just like the Equifax leak talked about above, are one other method. But whereas the Equifax breach concerned thousands and thousands of data, smaller breaches can expose SSNs simply as readily, like the breaches that have plagued many healthcare providers and hospitals over the past year.  

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 legit functions, which will help you make selections about how and when to give it out. The record of required instances is comparatively brief, reminiscent of: 

• When making use of for credit score or a mortgage. 
• Applying for or changing group health care coverage with an insurance coverage supplier. 
• Transactions that require IRS notification, like working with funding companies, 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 are usually not listed right here, although they’ll typically request an SSN for identification functions. While there’s no law preventing them from asking you for that information, they may refuse to work with you if you do not provide that info. 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 an alternative. In all, your SSN is uniquely yours, so be extraordinarily cautious so as to decrease its potential publicity to theft. 

How to report identification theft to Social Security in three steps 

Let’s say you see 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 information. These are potential indicators that your identification, if not your SSN, is in jeopardy, which implies it’s time to act immediately utilizing the steps beneath: 

1. Report the theft to native and federal authorities. 

File a police report and a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Identity Theft Report. It will assist in case somebody makes use of your Social Security quantity to commit fraud since it's going to present a authorized file of the theft. The FTC also can help by guiding you thru the identification theft restoration course of as effectively. Their website actually is a superb 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 studies, you'll have already got a few very important items of knowledge that may assist you to clear your title.  

3. Attain the Social Security Administration and the IRS.

 Check your Social Security account to see if somebody has gotten a job and used your SSN for employment functions. Reviewing earnings related together with your SSN can uncover fraudulent use. You also can contact the Social Security Fraud Hotline at (800) 269-0271 or reach out to your local SSA office for further, ongoing assistance. Likewise, contact the Inside Income Service at (800) 908-4490 to report the theft and assist stop somebody from submitting a tax return in your title. 

What do I do subsequent? Ongoing steps to take. 

As we’ve talked about in a few of my different weblog posts, identification theft is usually a long-term downside the place follow-up cases of theft can crop up over time. Nonetheless, there are a number of steps you possibly can take to decrease 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 objects as they relate to SSN theft: 

Think about inserting a fraud alert. 

By inserting a fraud alert, you can also make it more durable for thieves to open accounts in your title. Place it with one of many three main credit score bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax), and they'll notify the opposite two. Throughout the year-long fraud alert interval, it's going to require companies to confirm your identification earlier than issuing new credit score in your title. 

Look into an all-out credit score freeze. 

A full credit score freeze is in place till you carry it and can prohibit collectors from pulling your credit score report altogether. This will help cease thieves useless of their tracks since approving credit score requires pulling a report. Nonetheless, this is applicable to legit inquiries, together with any that you simply make, like opening a brand new mortgage or signing up for a bank card. If that’s the case, you’ll want to take further steps as directed by the actual establishment or lender. Not like the fraud alert, you’ll want to notify every of the three main credit score bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) whenever you need the freeze lifted. 

Monitor your credit score studies. 

As soon as per week you can access a free credit report from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Doing so will permit you to spot any future discrepancies and give you choices for correcting them. 

Join an identification safety service. 

Utilizing a service to assist defend your identification can monitor a number of kinds of personally identifiable data and provide you with a warning of doubtless unauthorized use. Our personal Identity Safety Service will do all this and extra, like providing guided assist to neutralize threats and stop theft from taking place once more. You may set it up in your computer systems and smartphone to keep within the know, tackle points instantly, and hold your identification secured.  

Your most unusual identifier requires further care and safety 

Of all of the types of identification theft, the theft of a Social Security Quantity is definitely probably the most doubtlessly painful as a result of it could possibly unlock so many very important elements of your life. It’s uniquely you, even greater than your title alone – at least within the eyes of collectors, banks, insurance coverage firms, prison data, and so forth. Your SSN requires further safety, and when you've got any considerations that it might have been misplaced or stolen, don’t hesitate to spring into motion.