50 Ways to Protect Your Identity in a Digital Age: New Financial Threats You Need to Know and How to Avoid Them, Second Edition

4. Your Social Security Number—An Identity Thief’s Lucky Number

Allow an identity thief access to your Social Security number, and in a very short time, you will be victimized. Armed with your Social Security number, an identity thief can readily access your bank accounts and other assets, as well as establish credit and run up debts in your name. Protecting your Social Security number requires great diligence. When the Social Security Administration was created in 1936, the public was assured by the government that the use of the identifying numbers would be limited to Social Security programs. So much for government assurances. The Social Security number has become a national identifying number. It is used by the federal and state governments, ...