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Rectifying Social Security Identity Theft?
VxSote asks: "A 19 year old kid tried to buy a car only to find out his
SSN had been stolen and used by a terrorist. Now, after talking to various government entities, he is no closer to having his (presumably) good name cleared. So this situation begs the question: how exactly does one go about fixing such a mess?"
Okay, my advice, first and foremost, and the most important thing is you have to watch your breathing. That is critical to shot follow through. I would recommend the prone position as it allows the firearm of your choice to be equally balenced, as well as providing enough room to breathe without interupting the accuracy of the shot. When you have aquired your target, gently squeeze the trigger, as if you pull it too hard, your firearm will move too drasticly and you will miss the target. I do recommend you go for accuracy, over grouping, unless you want to merely startle them, then grouping would be okay. If you take my advice, not just for this sort of thing, but for everything, I can almost garuntee you will have the upperhand in most situations. Good luck, Schnits0r
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Try moving to Canada. Seriously. Once you get on those lists it is almost impossible to get off. The kid is lucky that the government told him he is on the list and not shipped off to Guantanamo already. Most people never know they are on a watch list. I hate to sound pessimistic but this is the truth.
24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
Steal someone else's.
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
...is to post the number here, so we know who we're trying to help.
Seriously. It can be done.
-psy
Stop allowing companies, the federal, state and local governments to use your SSN for identification purposes, in any case when it doesn't match certain exemptions it MUST be optional. READ the back of your social security card, stay informed and if this isn't a case of a need to change your social security number, I don't know what is.
He would need to join the terrorist organization. It would be easier than update multiple government databases.
Recently Wells Fargo gave my Name, SSN, Address, Bank Account info, and other info about myself and my wife to a data miner who works in an office located behind a sports bar. The office of that contractor was burglarized, and a laptop was stolen containing the data on us and an undetermined number of people ranking in the thousands.
The laptop was recovered after 30 days, found in the apartment of a known identity thief. I'm supposed to believe he never copied of shared the information. The laptop was located because it had AOL software on it. That laptop could have been penatrated even if it had never been stolen. Well Fargo information security at it's finest.
All of my family's personal info in a nice, neat package for anyone to abuse. Not a fucking thing I can do about it beyond moving my business elsewhere. Which really doesn't solve the bigger problem, our personal and financial info drifting in the wind.
It is a lot easier.
doesn't solve the bigger problem, our personal and financial info drifting in the wind.
"The identity, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The credit core you need is in the wind..."
-Adam
This sort of bogus reasoning seems to have little to do with the topic in question. More likely the submitter should have said "raises the question", which in addition to being correct, only requires two additional keystrokes to type.
This fact is raised every time the term "begs the question" is misused, which is quite often. One would think that the Slashdot editors would be familiar with the issue already, and could edit the articles before posting.
-- $SIGNATURE
"Allen did not get his new car."
WTF? They couldn't figure out this kid was not a Yemeni terrorist? Note that they did not call the cops or FBI, they just refused to process his credit application.
Can't let those terrists get their hands on those Chevy Cavaliers of mass destruction, can we?
The latest Slashdot meme.
Is he buying this car with SSI benefits? He's clearly too young to be using Social Security payments to pay for the vehicle.
Why is any agency that would sell him a car allowed to require, or request, his Social Security Number?
resigned
It's not "stealing". It's "Identity Infringement".
This is ridiculous. After all this "war on terrorism" bullshit, all of the infringements on our civil rights, they still can't solve the most basic terrorism-related problems.
This guy is basically saying, "Help me! I'm a victim of identity theft by a terrorist," and federal agencies respond with, "Sorry kid, can't help you, we're too busy tapping phones and reading email to deal with terrorism."
What the hell is Homeland Security good for?
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Whoops! Must have misread the title...but it seems appropriate.
Bush and his group of neo-Facists are in power
Neo-Facists??? Thats so 2003.
Try 'Weasel-Facists' for a new twist on an old favorite!
Or even better... Facist-Face! or even more better. Facist-Face Poopy Pants!
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
You're basically screwed. The government isn't called "The Government" for nothing. They've got tons of checks and balances to make sure that it's virtually impossible for them to correct their mistakes, much less admit to them. Even if you could get the government to do something, you'll have to get the credit reporting bureaus to do something, too. Have you ever been damned to spend eternity pushing a boulder uphill only to have it roll back down?
The rest of this isn't very helpful, but what the heck...
Scenario #1: Do something
A) Keep poking at various three letter organizations til you get the end result of scenario #2.
B) Get a new SSN. Find out that you're still on watch lists, and will be forever. Don't plan on travelling by plane or Amtrak.
C) Leave the country... permanently.
D) Since you're only 19, you haven't paid much into Social Security, which won't be there anyway when you retire, so, manufacture a new identity with a new SSN. It's much easier than you might think. I leave this as an exercise to the reader. Do a Google search.
Scenario #2: Do nothing, or annoy the gummint. Sooner or later you'll be going on an all expenses paid permanent Carribean vacation.
*bad dream sequence*
Khan, reprising his role as Ricardo Montalban reprising his role as Mr. Roarke, dressed in olive drab will greet you at the debarkation point. "Welcome to Fantasy Isl -- er, Guantanamo Bay Mr. Allen, or should I say Mr. Bin al-Shibh? We hope that you will find the amenities (waves hand at razor wire) to your liking. Sgt. Tattoo will take you to your cage. Don't worry about your rights, we'll take good care of them for you during your stay.
Sgt. Tattoo. Sgt. Tattoo!! Get out of that Cordoba and take this man to his new home."
Here come da fudge!
In SOVIET RUSSIA, Social Security rectifies YOU!
In Soviet America the banks rob you!
As one who works for the Social Security Administration, I can tell you that it is virtually impossible to get a new Social Security Number. While it is theoretically possible, SSA is extremely adamant about making sure people keep their numbers, except under the most extreme and extraordinary of circumstances, and they don't consider most identity theft cases as extraordinary.
All I can tell you is what those who operate the telephone help line for SSA are told to tell the public... contact the three credit bureaus, as there's pretty much nothing we, the government, can/will do.
Okay, I realize that the credit agencies have to use *something* to uniquely identify people for credit check purposes, but is it necessary to use an SSN? I work in the health care industry where SSN is *usually* used to identify folks. Kaiser Permanente has already moved to using "health record ID" numbers; Blue Cross (the parent company of New Directions Behavioral Health -- my employer) is moving to erradicate the use of SSN's as primary identification of health records starting this fall.
Why can't the credit agencies follow suit and use something other than an SSN to uniquely identify us also?
If the parent had read the link, he would have seen that the exceptions to the rules are people who need your social security for it's intended purpose: a taxpayer identification number. Banks and employers need your taxpayer identification number for reporting purposes. And, if your landlord doesn't want to do business with you because you won't give your social, get 'em prosecuted for it. The link clearly states giving up a social security number must be voluntary.
that a "National ID" won't make anything or anyone more secure. You should all be freaking _terrified_ if the digitized file containing your biometric data is ever stolen - then you're screwed for life, no matter what. Well, unless you get eye & fingerprint transplants.
I know several Americans who finally gave up, and moved themselves to Europe to start a new life. After Canada, London and Paris are the most popular destinations for economic refugees from the US. The current US system makes it impossible to for victims to buy major items, like houses or cars. Regular tax audits suck out all your energy. It becomes impossible to take a job with an employer who only pays salary via direct deposit when you can never open another bank account. Not having a credit card means you can't do many things like internet shopping.
A few years ago I was talking with some US consular folks at a party, and they have a separate category for ex-pats who had to leave the US because they could no longer lead normal lives after ID theft. They call them "Forced Economic Migrants" or something similar. In France and England, the number is in the tens of thousands. That's just the number of people who bothered to register with the local embassies.
I have an American friend here in Belgium who had his US SSN abused more than 20 years ago. After a few years of fighting with the data reporting agencies, losing his house and all his bank accounts in the process, he gave up and moved here. The case officer at the SS administration told him he would have a better life if he gave up, cashed out, moved to another country and started his life over again. Since millions of people all over the world do this every year, it isn't that difficult, but it does really fsck up your life for a few years. A few years is better than the rest of your life. He claims he is much happier now, in a country with a working health care system and a real appreciation for beer.
His ex-wife tried to move back to the US in 2000, at the height of the boom, more than 15 years with no credit history in the US. But after 6 months of fighting with the credit reporting companies over the old data which is supposed to be deleted after 10 years, she is back here and swears never to go back except to visit family.
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
it's an easy one to answer.
Your credit rating and history are based entirely on SSN. If you're buying a car, then you're applying for a loan. If you're applying for a loan, then they use your SSN to look you up.
Yes, it sucks. But it's the answer to your question.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Does anyone here have Bill Gate's SSN ?
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Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
When someone makes a change in identity or immigrates, the information they provide should be checked against existing information prior to it being accepted. I can't remeber the guy's name but he had several rules regarding databases. One of them was to avoid redundancy (I think).
Um. And you're discounting Iraqi civilian casualties because...? You mean "600 Americans dead...along with untold thousands of civilians".
LOAD "SIG",8,1
There *are* ways of dealing with this.
First of all, when did he realize his number was being used. After that, he needs to report it to all the credit bureaus.
As for the Wells Fargo stolen laptop -- try dealing with a stolen server with SSI numbers, dates of birth, medical records, etc of the U.S. Military. It has happened. (see --- http://www.triwest.com/announcemnt )
This is something that is going to happen. Only by watching your own credit report can you deal with it and correct it. He needs to contact his congressman and bitch -- bitch loudly.
design is art - art is design
If I was writing a book on how i would get congress to do something... I would get together(in the book) 20 or 30 hacktavists who were willing to go to jail to steal the identities of the entire US Senate and maybe some house memebers too. Lets see how fast the laws would change (in my books world). Any suggestions on a possible ending to this book.
Meanwhile the US - which has very strict laws and ID of some kind is fairly well mandatory to even buy a beer, also has a problem with identity theft, benefit fraud and illegal immigration.
Hello UK - ramping up the amount of ID you carry or require will not stop identity theft even if its biometric because it is human nature to commit fraud given enough money. Terrorists have money; terrorists commit fraud. Known terrorists WILL get new identities and unknown terrorists will also be quite happy to be sleepers and have good identities.
Nothing changes.
To solve terrorism and the likes you have to identify networks of people. Its not so much my identity but who I am related to and interact with that counts. This is how PGP signing works with self-generated keys and the same signing system should work with ID cards.
The choice should not be a PKI style system with a central authority but a combination of a PGP style system with a central authority that co-signs self-generated keys.
Lets face it - the day the goverment makes an unforgable banknote is the day I'll reconsider the arguments. Until that time the more ID you have the more problems you have with identity theft of that same ID.
Find a good attorney and file a law suit.
Seems to work for every other bad situation. Surely the government can't prove in a court of law that he is in fact the terrorist in question. Let the Supreme Court decide what to do about it. That's what they are there for. This is why we have checks and balances... why settle for a presumably bad financing deal on a car he won't even own in 2 years when you can get millions in punitive damages. It might take a while but hell, he's only 19... his parents can support him for a few more years right?
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
is 012-34-5678 (ref. http://www.ohsu.edu/dmice/enrolled/50X_instruction s.pdf) :-)
It hasn't worked yet for John Gilmore, but he hasn't given up and he's got the financial resources to press the case until Hell freezes over. Unfortunately, it probably will require an opinion by the Supremes before anything changes, and unless the ACLU and/or the EFF pay your costs, it's a much more expensive task than just buying a car without a loan.
Allen is not sure how a terrorist ended up with his Social Security number. He believes it has to do with the fact that his birthday falls on Sept. 11. After talking to the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Treasury, the FBI, lawyers, and local police, Allen said that he is still not sure how to clear his name.
Uh oh ... me too! I guess now I've got yet another thing to thank John Ashcroft, Dick Cheney and Cheney's puppet for!
How does one go about asking the government "Hey, I was just wondering, am I a terrorist?"
This reads just as fiction does. I find these numbers (10's of thousands) very hard to believe. Please provide some evidence as to these numbers.
A lawyer & digital forensics examiner. Also an expert on open source software (OSS).
It is interesting that, on Slashdot, so damned many non-political stories are turned into political ones, and that the liberal participants here on /. frequently use undesirable, non-political events (or facts) as a means to attack conservatives. Does anyone really believe that conservatives are responsible for ID theft, or that they are trying to perpetuate ID theft?
Even more interesting is that the comment above was once rate "+4, interesting." I would rate it simply "Ridiculously overrated." Why do liberal moderators feel compelled to "moderate up" comments such as the parent?
A lawyer & digital forensics examiner. Also an expert on open source software (OSS).
...you've got to break the law to help yourself.
This guy will just have to illegally change his identity. He'll have to find the SSN of some kid who was born ~19 years ago and died as an infant, and assume that kid's identity. He'll just need to get a copy of the kid's birth certificate, and he'll be in business.
the liberal participants
liberal = "anyone I don't agree with"
non-political events
but it is political -- it is controlled by the government and part of the policy that is, ultimately, determined by the elected officials.
as a means to attack conservatives.
Or maybe point out facts that the conservatives don't want to see, acknowledge, or take responsibility for contributing to through the administration they support?
Does anyone really believe that conservatives are responsible for ID theft
No, but they're responsible for how the goverment deals with it, or doesn't want to deal with it because they'd rather act important and enjoy the high from their testosterone poising as they send more soldiers off to war so we get more coffins back.
This is part of a pattern -- both of the administrations behavior, and of knee-jerk conservatives who, whenever they read something they don't like that critizes their views or politicians in any way, the first thing they do is call it liberal (is that supposed to be a bad word?) and promptly jump all over the "liberal" point, whether they can support their comments or not.
Learn to separate fact from opinion.
And, while you're at it, learn to accept that there is more than one viewpoint in this world Sometimes yours is right, sometimes yours is wrong. In this case, it's just a knee-jerk reaction that leads to trying to pass off opinion as fact.
Second, most of the entries on that list don't have SSNs, because they're not US persons. Here's the entry mentioned:
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BIN AL SHIBH, Ramzi
There's no SSN given. Only 33 of the names on the "blocked persons" list have US SSNs listed. Also note the date of birth. Bin al Shibih is in his 30s, and the applicant was 19.(a.k.a. BINALSHEIDAH, Ramzi Mohamed Abdullah; BINALSHIBH, Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah; a.k.a. OMAR, Ramzi Mohammed Abdellah), Billstedter Hauptstr Apt 14, 22111 Hamburg, Germany; Emil Anderson Strasse 5, 22073 Hamburg, Germany; Letzte Heller #109 Hamburg University, 22111 Hamburg, Germany; Marienstr #54, 21073 Hamburg, Germany; Schleemer Ring 2, 22117 Hamburg, Germany; DOB 16 Sep 1973; alt. DOB 1 May 1972; POB Khartoum, Sudan; alt. POB Hadramawt, Yemen; Passport Nos. A755350 (Saudi Arabia), R85243 (Yemen), 00085243 (Yemen); nationality Yemeni (individual) [SDGT] BIN MANSOR, Amran (a.k.a. BIN MANSOR, Henry; a.k.a. BIN MANSOUR, Amran; a.k.a. MANSOR, Amran); DOB 25 May 1965; POB Malaysia (individual) [SDGT]
So this is a credit bureau screwup, not a Government screwup.
Misery, though, is having the same name as someone on the list.
It seems that the liberals, as a group, are normal like every other group - but it's unfortunalty peppered with the a few loudmouth obnoxious types that engage in ad hominum attacks at the outset.
The loonies in the conservitive groups seems more interested in swaying the rest of the conservitives into a more 'right' view. Whilst the left loonie are more interested in making a spectacle of themselves.
Hence, the name calling to draw addtention.
It's rather amusing that the other response to your post, Paul, makes my point for me.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
Saw something on television where an Identity Theft victim just decided to buy someone else's SSN. Worked great for many years until an exwife tracked him down for not making alimony.
a few loudmouth obnoxious types that engage in ad hominum attacks at the outset.
I guess we're ignoring conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, etc?
Whilst the left loonie are more interested in making a spectacle of themselves.
I guess we're ignoring conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, etc?
I wondered about that, too. Even if the number is accurate, I wonder whether it includes everyone who has ever moved for that reason; in that case, it may include a considerable number of people from the McCarthy era who ended up under the thumb of the HUAC.
The case officer at the SS administration told him he would have a better life if he gave up, cashed out, moved to another country and started his life over again.
Is there a way to sue Congress for writing such bad legislation and get awarded damages to buy things like cars in hard cash? Seriously, the SSN is artificial and is apparently causing real damage due to real negligence (allowing identity theft and then, saying, "[move] to another country and started his life over again"...that sucks really bad).
Vote in November. You won't regret it.
Rush and Ann are entertainers, not conserviatives.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
I guess you'd have to say the same thing about Bush, then, too.
I guess you'd have to say the same thing about Bush, then, too.
.. you made a funny.
nyuk nyuk..
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
"SS administration" probably has not the same meaning to you as it does to Europeans...
Oh, one excludes the other? Golly. Besides, a person is judged conservative or liberal by what they publically express themself as believing in. I don't seem to recall Mr. Limbaugh expressing a liberal point of view in his attempts at entertainment. Except for that attempt to score liberal amounts of drugs.
My bullshit detector is triggering on this article. Notice that the only source mentioned is the guy himself. The reporter apparently didn't bother to contact the car dealer, the credit agencies, or anybody in law enforcement for additional information on the incident.
If Bin al-Shibh had really stolen this guy's SSN, and used it for something, shouldn't he have used the guy's name too? Then it would be his own name on the blacklist. Conversely, if the authorities somehow discovered a terrorist was using an SSN that wasn't his own, you'd think they would at least investigate the rightful owner -- maybe he'd be involved somehow, huh? They wouldn't just drop it on a blacklist.
Finally, the bit about his birthday being 9/11? That just sounds like a bad joke.
I'm sorry, but I want to see some more verification of this guy's story before I believe it.
I would suggest that this gentleman contact his local congressman. This is the kind of issue that congressman know will win over a voter and everyone in their family for the rest of their lives (or the congressman's political career.)
I'm not saying that the issue will definitely get taken care of, but if he goes down to his congressman's office, they will know who to call to get the ball rolling. Likely this individual has only spoken to low ranking bureacrats. If he contacts his congressman he can quickly get to the top.
I find these numbers (10's of thousands) very hard to believe.
I don't.
There are hundreds of American expatriates living semi-permanently in Skopje, Macedonia. Macedonia is a fairly poor country with only a little over 2 million inhabitants and a smaller GDP than Omaha, Nebraska. But its economy is still largely cash-based, and if you have a job plus even a little savings (by Western standards) you can live there nicely for years.
I don't know how many of these are economic refugees. But if it is 10%, and you extrapolate to the rest of (comparatively much wealthier) Europe, then tens of thousands definitely does not seem unrealistic.
Nonaggression works!