So I’m on the train home from Long Island, returning after a reasonably successful visit with a young lady of my acquaintance. I’m riding alone, even though I’m under 18, but I feel no fear; I have navigated US Airlines, and Amtrack holds no terrors for me. I reach into my pocket to dig out my wallet…and find nothing.
Okay, Taran, don’t panic, just starting thinking. You had it in the car on the way to the train station, you had it in the station…the last time you checked your pocket was a minute before that shady-looking dude brushed up against you…awwww crap.
Nope, still not time to panic, maybe it’s in some other pocket. I check through my other pockets, finding a trombone mouthpiece and a piece of linolium, but no wallet. Luckily, my train tickets were too big to fit, so they’re fine. I have some money secreted about my person, so that’s fine. I’ve lost my college ID card, but…oh, right. My college ID card. Yeah, the one with my Social Security Number on it. That one.
So someone with a poorly functioning moral center has access to my SSN. How worried should I be about this? What sort of shady things can an unprincipled person pull with that information? How can I preempt him and stop it? Has this happened to anyone else? How did it turn out?
Okay, so you’re saying your entire wallet was stolen? Yes? Then the probability is extremely high that the pickpocket simply yanked out the cash and dropped the rest of the wallet, contents and all, into the nearest trash receptacle. Drug addicts don’t have the smarts to get creative with driver’s licenses, SSNs, etc.
Your biggest worry would be credit cards. No credit cards? No worry.
My daughter’s purse was stolen from work a few months ago (McDonald’s), same as you–student ID, SSN–and nothing’s happened. She did take the precaution of calling her bank the first thing in the morning (there was a bank account ID card in her purse) and changing her savings account to a “password access only”.
You should probably fill out some kind of report with either the police or the LIRR, just so you’re covered.
i don’t think it’s that big of a deal, a year or so ago there was some gerber baby crap my dad heard about on the internet and if you were feeding your kids gerber as a child you could send in your proof of birth, SSN, etc and you’d get 500 bucks for a savings plan. I forget why they were gonna give you the money, it think it’s because they were putting stuff in it that they said they weren’t. Well, without my dads permession he sent my info in, low-and-behold no cash!
Well, 4 years later and nothings happened to me, no lose of money, no one stalking me down, etc. shrug
Taran, sorry about your loss, but your first mistake was in letting your college put your SSN on your ID. Any college that takes Federal $$, even if only for student aid, (and can you think of any that don’t?) must offer you the option of using a different identifier.
I’ll counter that a bit. Someone I work with found out that someone had used his SSN to open a cell phone account in his name. He was able to cancel the contract, but was stuck with the bill for the months already gone by, because the phone company insisted that the burden of proof was on him to prove that the account had been opened fraudulently.
Consumer Reports, 60 Minutes, and lots of other magazines and news shows have noted that you can walk into almost any furniture/appliance store that advertizes “instant” credit and make purchases with nothin more than a fake ID and a valid SSN that matches the name on the ID - the credit reporting agencies will accept a matching name & SSN as enough info on which to issue a recommendation. Over the last few years, there have been arrests and convictions of a handful of people caught pulling this scam.
Hence the recommendation on the Soc Sec site linked earlier that you check your credit reports over the next several months.
A scam that’s no longer so common is for the person with your SSN to pose as you and request a copy of your credit report to find out where you have your bank account. Then they write to the bank to report a change of address (changing it to a mail drop somewhere) and, a little later, writing to the bank saying they have lost your ATM card and, would the bank please be so kind as to send a replacement card (to the new address). Banks are reportedly now alter to this scam and no longer will send cards to newly changed addresses without additional corraboration, but you can probably imagine a number of variations on this theme.
The Washington Post on 13 Jul 2000 reported that the Federal Trade Commission hotline logged more 20,000 complaints in eight months, including numerous instances of masquerading with other people’s Social Security numbers to obtain fraudulant loans and credit cards.
The Los Angeles Times on 16 Jan 2000 reported on a 22-year-old woman whose handbag was stolen and later recovered. A later background check for employment turned up outstanding warrants for prostitution. Subsequently, she had provlems obtaining credit, renting an apt., etc., until she went to court and managed to “prove” that her identity had been stolen.
Odds are, Taran, your wallet wound up in a trash can somewhere. But I wouldn’t take it entirely for granted
Taran, a friend of mine at work had his identity stolen, and a year later is still dealing with the after effects. A warrant was out for his arrest, because the identity theif also stole some cars rented in his name, along with all of the credit problems. He spent a night in jail and missed quite a bit of work with court dates to straighten that mess out. He actually learned about the identity theft when the cops showed up at his door to arrest him. Not a fun experience, all around.
I would take this seriously. Yes, chances are your wallet is on the ground somewhere and your cash is in the theif’s pocket. However, there is more money to be made by petty thieves in selling your ssn and credit card numbers than in stealing cash. The reality is you don’t know who stole your wallet and what their motives were. There are some pretty sophisticated theives out there.
I would immediately notify the police, your bank, and all credit cards. Then, change your social security number. Then, get new ID with no ssn on it.
Sorry this happened to you. And, sorry if I’m being alarmist, but I’ve seen what identity theft can do to a person’s life, and I’m sure it’s not something that you want to go through. Better to go through the inconvenience of changing your ssn than the alternative.
you are under 18, so the # should be useless to the scumbag, elkshiteating thief. any decent underwriter should catch the date of issue if he tries to go out and buy a deluxe washer-dryer combo…
If you’re worried about identity theft (like me), then the best bet is to keep track of your credit history.
I’ve subscribed to a credit monitoring service that produces monthly reports of all access to my credit report. Thus any new accounts or anyone accessing my record will be there for me to see. Hopefully, if someone opens a fraudulent account, I would see it right away, and then the police can catch them right away while they still attempt to use said account. This also has the advantage that I can always be sure that my credit is in good standing, and can quickly resolve disputes while they’re still fresh.
You can also do this by yourself, by checking up on your credit report every few months. For a few bucks you can get your credit report from any of the 3 major agencies. Equifax is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. But there’s two others also, so you should check all 3.
In this case, the guy probably just wanted your money.
Thank you all for your replies! For some reason I thought this board would be able to help :).
I don’t have any credit cards, so no worries there. ChordedZither is quite right, of course…I should have insisted on a different ID number. Nothing untoward has happened so far, though, so I’m probably safe, especially since I’m under 18. My identity isn’t all that valuable…which is something of a depressing thought, but it’s very useful right now.
I’ve informed my bank and my local police department, and I’ll talk to my college shortly. How much of a hassle would changing my SSN be?
Thanks for the link, Beadalin, and thanks for the excellent swearword, gatopescado.
I don’t think it counts as a credit check, as in when a bank or other potential lender checks it. It’s you requesting a copy of your own credit report for information only.
As others have pointed out, its not very difficult for anyone to obtain your Social Security number. There are going to be lots of times in your life where someone will be able to find our your SS#, and it would be ridiculous for you to change it every time!
Only request a new SS# if you’re positive that someone is fraudulently using your number. This advice comes directly from the Social Security Administration:
