NoSSN - Investigators Find Social Security Administration Vulnerable to

Investigators Find Social Security Administration Vulnerable to
Identity Thieves
By Mary Dalrymple
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Social Security Administration's policies for
issuing identification cards and numbers to infants, foreign students and
citizens who report lost or stolen cards leave the agency vulnerable to
identity thieves.

Congressional investigators at the General Accounting Office, working
undercover, were able to use false documents to obtain fraudulent driver's
licenses and get Social Security numbers for fake children.

The investigators were to present their findings to a House
subcommittee on Thursday.

Social Security Administration officials want to press lawmakers at
the hearing for legislation to keep Social Security numbers out of
public records provided by state and local governments. The agency
also wants to ban the sale of the numbers and limit their use in the
private sector.

"The use of the SSN as a student or patient identification number, as part
of a car rental contract or to rent a video, must be curtailed," said
James G. Huse Jr., the agency's inspector general.

Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr., R-Fla., chairman of the House subcommittee
that oversees the Social Security system, said he will introduce
legislation to remedy those and other vulnerabilities. "Identity
theft is the fastest growing white-collar crime, and no one is
immune," he said.

Identity thieves use Social Security and credit card numbers to
establish false names or citizenship, purchase goods or fraudulently apply
for credit.

Congressional investigators posed as new parents and used fake birth
certificates and baptismal certificates to obtain Social Security numbers
for infants.

They also used Social Security numbers of dead people to get driver's
licenses. A program designed to verify the numbers for state driver's
license facilities failed to catch the problems.

In other cases, investigators found that the agency does not require
workers to check the authenticity of documents used to get Social Security
numbers.

Foreign students applying for a number must show proof that they are
enrolled in school full-time, but Social Security workers are not required
to check the documents with schools or employers.

U.S. citizens who want to replace lost or stolen cards do not have to
prove their citizenship. They can use cards for school identification,
church membership or health insurance to apply for a new Social Security
card.

Investigators found that 70 percent of the cards issued last year
were replacements for lost or stolen cards. There is no limit on
replacement cards, and investigators believe identity thieves are
able to request multiple copies and sell them to non-citizens.

AP-ES-07-10-03 0728EDT

This story can be found at:
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGADRAKOYHD.html

"I don't like the income tax. Every time we talk about these taxes we get around to the idea of 'from each according to his capacity and to each according to his needs'. That's socialism. It's written into the Communist Manifesto. Maybe we ought to see that every person who gets a tax return receives a copy of the Communist Manifesto with it so he can see what's happening to him.." -- T. Coleman Andrews, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, May 25, 1956 in U.S. News & World Report

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