Identity Theft Strikes Local Couple – Again

When someone works under your name, it can cause lots of headaches and sometimes results in financial loss. One common loss is the time lost in clearing up the employment fraud, and as we know, time is money.

Lancasteronline.com reports that when a couple applied for public assistance at a local government office, they discovered that someone has used their personal information to obtain a job in Ohio.  In fact, their personal info, including Social Security Number (SSN), had been used several times between 2003 and 2009 to collect paychecks from various companies in Connecticut, New Jersey and Minnesota.

Why would someone work under your identity instead of their own?  They may use your SSN and identity for any number of reasons: running from the law, evading taxes, or an illegal immigrant seeking a job.

The Social Security Number is currently as our national identification card – even though it’s not supposed to be used for identification.  A 1998 NY Times article states: WASHINGTON— For many years, Social Security cards carried an admonition that they were to be used ”for Social Security and tax purposes — not for identification.” That assurance rings hollow today. Congress has authorized so many uses of the nine-digit number, and Americans use it for so many unauthorized purposes, that it has just about become a national identifier.

Today your social security number is connected to everything.

Identity theft protection will not prevent employment fraud. However having a fraud resolution agent assist in identity theft restoration is an invaluable asset. McAfee Identity Protection, offers proactive identity surveillance, lost wallet protection, and alerts when suspicious activity is detected on your accounts. For additional tips, please visit http://www.counteridentitytheft.com

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee Consultant and Identity Theft Expert. See him discussing how to protect yourself from identity theft on CounterIdentityTheft.com. (Disclosures)