# Social Security Card Forgery, and Gov. Protections Against It

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-card-forgery-and-gov-protections-against-it/28431>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 7, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-card-forgery-and-gov-protections-against-it/28431 "2000-08-07T15:57:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Steve-o](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Steve-o](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve-o)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-card-forgery-and-gov-protections-against-it/28431/1 "2000-08-07T15:57:42Z")

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I went to the DPS today to renew my drivers license. They require that you show your social security card to get a new license. I thought that was a pretty weak form of identification. They told me that it was not used for identification. They said they use it for \<insert mumbo-jumbo here that amounts to identification\>. One lady got really pissed (I’m talkin’ 'bout an amount of pissed that was totally inappropriate to the question I had asked) when I asked about it, which made me think that I had stumbled onto their long kept secret that they are easy to forge. 😉 So, how easy is it to forge a social security card? The dang thing just looks like a cheap piece of construction paper with some ink on it. Is there anything special about the ink or the paper? I looked at mine under a black light, half expecting to see something “special” show up, but… nothing. What protections are built into the card so that law enforcement can identify a forgery?

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**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2000, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-card-forgery-and-gov-protections-against-it/28431/2 "2000-08-07T17:24:26Z")

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> [@](#):
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> The dang thing just looks like a cheap piece of construction paper with some ink on it.

That’s because Social Security cards _are_ just cheap pieces of construction paper with some ink on them. The damn things are probably no harder to forge than business cards.

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**Author:** ![warmgun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@warmgun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warmgun)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2000, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-card-forgery-and-gov-protections-against-it/28431/3 "2000-08-07T18:48:32Z")

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The reason that they want you SS# is because people who drive alot from state (e.g. truckers) try to get different licence w/ different SS#'s to avoid high insuance from too many tickets. I ran into this problem in NM. after a BIG ruckus (I did not want my SS# on my DL for all the world to see) we compramised, I gave them my real # but on my lic. they printed 000-00-0000.  
SS cards are the eaiest ID to forge. you can do it with your printer at home. But if you use it for more than 8 mo. to a year, you will get caught.  
If you’re interested, and I don’t encourage this, Paladin Press sells books all about forging SS#'s.