<p>That stinks about the tax $$. I assume the valid person who did earn income and have it appropriately allocated under their SSN gets credit for their deposits (I hope).</p>
<p>There is one benefit to this awdful situation-- THe OP’s son can retake the SAT and/or AP exams and if they get a higher score, just report that one!! (Of course startign witht he class of 2010, they can de-select SAT scores anyway and only report the ones they want- so this is a short term benefit)</p>
<p>According to a 2005 msnbc.com article, at that time the government had $420 billion in uncredited Social Security wages in the Earnings Suspense File. 35% of the wages in the fund were earned by workers in California.</p>
<p>I have a nightmare story that happened to me years ago.</p>
<p>One morning I got a call from a store asking why I hadn’t paid my bill. I had never heard of the store, and hadn’t bought anything (it was a LARGE woman’s clothing store, and I wear a 2:)) Anyway, that’s how it began. </p>
<p>Turns out a LARGE woman had used my social security to open up EVERY type of credit you could imagine. She had bought a car, furniture, had credit cards to every store imaginable - including Pepperidge Farms (I didn’t even know they extended credit)!! </p>
<p>It took me YEARS to get it all off my credit history. Every time I thought I had it clean, something would pop back up. It was a nightmare!</p>
<p>At the time, I was not considered the victim, the law was that it was the credit card/lenders who were the victims, and none of them would press charges, so she went SCOTT FREE!</p>
<p>Well, around 8 years later, I got a call from a car dealership in Dallas asking if I had been in there to apply for credit to buy a Jetta. IT WAS THE SAME WOMAN!!! This time, I WAS the victim because the laws had changed. The police set up a sting with the help of the dealership. The dealership told her that her loan was approved, and when she went in to pick up the car, the cops busted her! YAY.</p>
<p>Now, the really weird part. A week or so later, I get a call from this woman’s daughter. I thought, “Oh great, she’s going to try to talk me out of pressing charges.” But, to my surprise, she was begging me to continue with the prosecution. Apparantly, the woman had used her daughter’s ssn since she was a baby and had totally RUINED her credit. She also had used innumerous other people’s information and had some compulsion to continue. The daughter thought that the only way to get the mom to stop was if she went to jail!!!</p>
<p>Insane story, but totally true!</p>
<p>All the advise given above is good. I got to know the fraud advisors at the credit bureaus on a first name basis. When we applied for a mortgage, or to buy a car or big purchase where we were applying for credit, I had to call the agencies to get them to clear the credit. </p>
<p>Keep all your records, you may need them for years… </p>
<p>Sorry, GOOD LUCK!!!</p>
<p>ag54 What a story!</p>
<p>Missypie, after hearing all this, I’m wondering if we should stop by SS office
and make sure son and I are the only ones using our numbers.</p>
<p>I am one of those women who, when I got married didn’t work outside the home. (This was almost 30 years ago). One day I went to Saks to buy something and didn’t have my Saks card with me so I was asked for my ssn. I gave it to them. A few seconds later the saleswoman looked at me and said, “You can’t be … She’s dead.” Seems that if one is a throwback to the olden days and doesn’t have a paying job some idiot in the government says that you have died. That took a bit of straightening out.</p>
<p>ellebud-
You look really good for a dead person.</p>
<p>Wow–after reading this thread, I immediately went to check my credit report with the big 3 (the free ones you can get once a year). Still clear, thank goodness. </p>
<p>The last time I checked was when the law went into effect that you could get free reports once a year.</p>
<p>One thing that I’ve noticed–a lot of identity theft seems to happen after a wallet is stolen. I’ve been really, really careful with my wallet/purse. </p>
<p>I have had problems more often with charges that show up on my credit card bill, so I check my CC bill online often looking for weird charges. But the insidiousness of identity theft is that you don’t even KNOW that someone is scamming you. Scary!</p>
<p>The scary thing about a SSN theft where the person uses their own name is that it doesn’t show up on your own credit report or social security earnings statement. They have their own life under your number and it’s almost impossible to get info because of privacy laws. Isn’t is wild that a person can be a victim of a crime, but the perp is protected under privacy laws?</p>
<p>jym626:</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Ellebud</p>
<p>Ellebud-
I’d ask for pictures, but that could compromise your dead identity</p>
<p>Gosh, Ellebud - are you sure? I thought stay-at-home moms didn’t have a life. ;)</p>
<p>Binx:</p>
<p>I don’t…between the soap operas…the bonbons…I am but a mere figment of my younger self…(Picture a middle aged mother…apron on…hair in curlers…waiting sadly for something…anything to happen…) or (a botoxed middle aged mom…making daily lunch reservations after the mani/pedi and facial)…I am but a shadow of my former self.</p>
<p>Wait, you’re supposed to wait till I ask, with a bit of incredulous sneer, “What do you DO all day?” Then you tell me about the bon-bons.</p>
<p>(Hope you can tell I’ve been there.)</p>
<p>Missypie, the issue is that identity theft is such a prolific and elusive crime, and it’s so easy to do, and so hard to prosecute and punish. It’s so easy to steal identities it’s ridiculous, and for the common criminal the risk is low. One can go to various chat rooms on the internet and purchase entire sheets of social security numbers and identities for $200 all day long. Law enforcement finds the websites and shuts them down of course, but the sites just spring up again in minutes under new URLs. It is nearly impossible for law enforcement to even begin to get a handle on it; the FBI has an entire division devoted to it and they’re too busy swimming to build a boat.</p>
<p>The other issue is that the older a stolen identity is, the more it is worth, because usually the legitimate owner cannot find or remember the original data breach. An identity stolen today is worth maybe $100; wait five years and it will be worth $5,000 or so, because in most cases no one is watching out for or expecting a crime any more. </p>
<p>The best thing anyone can do is their very best to protect their personal information, and monitor credit reports carefully. </p>
<p>Long term, new legislation and regulatory oversight is needed for credit reporting agencies - they should be forced to take some responsibility to make sure that the information they are populating on credit reports is accurate.</p>
<p>Of course, when you get a social security number for an infant, the card goes from the SS Office, to you in the mail, to a drawer, where you take it out only to fill out that first tax return. So it was either sold by someone on the government side or perhaps the illegal just chose a random combination of numbers that happened to be my son’s number.</p>
<p>Missypie, I bet someone had access to that drawer. Have you had housekeepers over the years? That was my worry when we lived in Texas (now I can’t afford one.) We keep our cards locked in a small home safe.</p>
<p>The drawer is always locked when the housekeeper comes. As a matter of fact, I wanted to unlock it this morning and couldn’t find the key.</p>
<p>However, I am going to have searches done on all of us.</p>
<p>My kids’ SSNs have been in active use for a long time – for health insurance policies, the lawyer’s office, doctors’ offices, the grade/jr high/high schools, when you register for the ACT/SAT/AP, college applications. I have them memorized, they have been used so much.</p>
<p>All of our actual soc sec cards are in our safe deposit box.</p>
<p>I am starting to think that I should check our credit reports, and have the kids check theirs.</p>
<p>Gladmom, if someone has been using your or your kids’ SSN with their own name, it will not show up on your credit report or on your SS statement of earnings. But they most likely have credit under their own name with your number. Good luck getting that credit report! I tried, but could not answer the security questions, because I did not know where she got her home loan and car loan.</p>
<p>Interesting question then. All these years I have declined to provide my children’s SSN on any paperwork unless I thought it was really needed (and I rarely think it’s needed when they are young). For example, when the doctor’s form asks for it, I leave that blank. Why do they really need it? Same with the school, etc until they get to the point of doing the college search. I’ve tried to instill my children with the need to be rather protective about using this number.</p>
<p>Is there a “right” way to handle this stuff?</p>