How do I prevent my SSN from being utilized?
One of the items of information you should not be too keen to share with anybody is your social security number. Originally intended to be used only for Social Security benefit distribution, SSN usage has grown over the years to encompass identification and verification by numerous government and business entities. On the other hand, should the incorrect individual get your SSN, he or she will be able to commit identity theft or other illegal activity. The good news is that there are steps one may take to prevent the usage of your SSN.
Verify Your Credit Reports Actually, routinely reviewing credit reports is one of the best methods to spot early enough incidents of SSN abuse. If your SSN is being used illegally, there may be signs that it is being used someplace dishonestly before you find out personally. Once every twelve months from the three main credit report companies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—any person can get a free credit report. Either calling 877-322-8228 or visiting www.annualcreditreport.com will provide the three free reports. Review the given reports to find any credit checks or accounts the fraudster started under your knowledgelessness. If necessary, you should also lock your credit records via a fraud alert or credit freeze to stop identity criminals from opening any further accounts under your name.
Review Your Earnings Statements One other place where unauthorized use may manifest itself is in your social security earnings statements. Every working American who contributes to social security shall be given an account number by the SSA and shall be issued an annual statement reflecting the amount of money earned as reported by the employer through the SSN. If you find earnings from an employer which you never worked for then it raises several concerns. You should promptly report it to the SSA by calling 800-772-1213 immediately. This way, one is capable of avoiding the next cases of filing fake tax returns under the SSN in the future. You may also have state-level possibilities to report/unwind such unauthorized earnings based on the state you reside in.
Limit Who Has Access Avoid using your SSN unnecessarily or giving it out casually as this is a potential identity theftSensitive information like your SSN should not be disclosed where there is no genuine reason to do so. Although some entities such as employers, banks, or government organizations are legally allowed to use an SSN to authenticate ID many do not legally require your number by law. Don’t provide your SSN when requested to do so; it is necessary to determine if it is necessary to provide it or not. Do not discard any papers which have your SSN; instead, rip them into pieces. If you must carry it in a wallet, be sure to keep it locked away at home and only carry the wallet in case of emergencies. Make sure you do not overcrowd your wallet with items that you do not necessarily use on a day-to-day basis.
Bolster Your Legal Protections You may also request another SSN from the Social Security Administration under a certain state if you can show that you tried to correct misuse but to no avail. This is usually only given for situations where identity theft is severe and ongoing to the extent that one's financial status or life is at risk. If one meets the requirements for this, it cancels the old number permanently but grants a new one. On the same note, some states have other legal remedies that identity theft victims can take legal action for, for instance putting a security freeze on your credit reports to prevent anyone from accessing them without consent. Another option that may be useful is to obtain an identity theft passport through your state’s DMV; this will assist the victim in proving to businesses/ agencies that any fraud is not theirs.
Monitor Your Bank Accounts Of all the financial accounts, keep a close eye on them consistently. If you notice any unknown charges; any transaction that is unknown to you on your bank statement or any amount deducted from your account then it is high time you should do something about it. Career resume: look for checks that you have not written or debits to accounts you cannot identify. Inform your bank in case your debit card number has been stolen and replacement cards are required. Not notifying your linked accounts of fraudulent spending at the earliest opportunity may reduce your legal rights to recover for losses in some cases.
Take the Identity Theft Protection Course To get a more comprehensive view of your credit other than your reports sign up for identity theft protection services. The paid services offered through Life Lock and Identity Force employ sophisticated technology to search for threats in varied databases including criminal records databases, payday loan lenders, change of address forms, black markets, crawled data, and many others. It is used as a second set of eyes that look out for any suspicious activity related to your data. If there is something that concerns the service, they also initiate notifications of what they discovered. This is important because one will get to have dedicated professionals monitoring, which will enable the identification of risks before much loss occurs.
Set Up Login Alerts I also chose watching logins since as many accounts go online, it also can protect against misuse. The login alerts that some apps and websites that give you access to your confidential information including your financial account or any other account that has your SSN should be enabled. By doing that, any new password created or any login attempts from unfamiliar devices/locations will notify you for you to verify. For instance, USAA alert service provides such alerts to inform when an attempted access appears to be fraudulent. This lets the users change passwords as soon as possible and brings the impact to a minimum.
Check Statements Closely Besides checking the credit reports it is more advisable to also keep an eye on any statements that are made through post mail. If one day you do not find the checklists of your financial accounts, your loans, or utility bills in your post box, get in touch with the sender. A change of address may have been filed by the criminals to intercept your mail and that may mean they are planning to go on a shopping spree using your account. Also, ask for a review of statements to check for errors or spelling mistakes in the information provided which may hint at a fake account opening instead of the real account details the company has in its records.
Learn how to implement the measures to ensure that social security numbers are not compromised before it happens. However, it is advisable that if you have a hunch or you have confirmed that someone is misusing your SSN, then take necessary measures early enough to reduce the effects. After that, submit the incident to the FTC Identity Theft Hotline and file a complaint with the appropriate authorities. Make sure that you get a fraud alert put on your credit file. Altogether, press charges and at the same time, ensure that they are reviewing credit reports and account statements. Notably, through proactive measures and strong willpower and determination, victims can also take control of SSN identity theft.
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