Social Security Info
For anyone who is interested in protecting their Social Security info, there are several immediate steps you should take. First and most importantly, you should stop carrying around your social security card in your wallet or purse. The simple truth is that if it is lost or stolen, you may be a prime candidate for identity theft.
Whether you know it or not, it is possible for a person to swipe your identity with little more than your social security card. That’s right! Even in the information age where there are supposed to be safeguards in place, it is easy enough to circumvent them. That means that with the right Social Security info, it is possible for a thief or impostor to obtain all of the credentials and identification he needs to become you, as far as the government is concerned. In all honestly, all he really needs is a license or passport, and from there he can easily apply for credit.
As you may know, the credit card companies are not exactly the most cautious folks on earth, what with them sending out hundreds of billions of applications for new credit every year. This often means that all you need is the bear minimum of Social Security info to obtain credit. Now, you may think that since it was the credit card company that made the mistake by not verifying the Social Security info they were given, they would be culpable here, but you would only be half right. The truth is that users are expected to protect their own Social Security info and that a credit card company has the right to pursue them for bills and debt that they did not accrue.
This practice is actually popular enough to have spawned a furtive industry as well as the intentionally ambiguous job title of “information broker.” What information do they share? Well, mostly they deal in Social Security info, which they sell to nameless, faceless bidders. In fact, the less they know about these buyers, the better.