According to Merriam-Webster Social Security is:
a United States government program established in 1935 to include old-age and survivors insurance, contributions to state unemployment insurance, and old-age assistance
The Social Security Identity was established to create and maintain a permanent master earnings record for the individual worker in the United States. It is maintained by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the record has a unique number assigned to it; that is your Social Security Number (SSN). Although the use of your Social Security number has moved well beyond its’ initial purpose, it is still the master identifier of your earnings history. In other words, all the reported money you ever make, is reported under your SSN. Have you ever thought about what would happen if someone took your SSN, a false name, and used that to get a job?
Theft of this portion of your identity occurs when thieves use your SSN to gain employment or report income under your name. Many things could happen as a result of this.
For example:
· Thieves take the income, but don’t pay the taxes, leaving you with the bill and possibly making you subject of an audit.
· Wanted criminals use your SSN so they can get employment without being found.
· Illegal immigrants use your SSN to gain employment.
· Multiple people obtain employment under your SSN and it has a negative impact on your ability to collect your social security benefit.
One of the problems that has become increasingly common is the use of stolen SSNs by illegal immigrants. They are by no means the only group that is using illicit SSNs, but they are the largest group. Employers are required to verify the SSNs of all new employees. Illegal immigrants need to work to make money just like everyone else, but without an SSN, what can they do? In some cases, they act maliciously to take a number and use it. Sometimes, they are given a SSN from someone who makes them believe that it is real and that it now belongs to them. They don’t even know that they are committing a crime. Although the statistics that the government is using state that the number of illegal immigrants is between 10-15 million, we believe that the number is much higher. Why is that a problem you ask?
When one of my colleagues, John Gardner, was speaking to a group in New Mexico, he met with a number of business owners and received a rude awakening. After discussing the different identity types and how they relate to identity theft, a business owner said that it is standard policy for ‘employees’ to change their SSN. What happens is the person in question uses an SSN until it doesn’t work any more. That could be because the government has finally gotten around to finding out the SSN didn’t match the individual or the real owner of the SSN found out that he had new income in his name. Regardless, when the ‘employee’ is no longer able to either work or, more importantly, use the SSN to be able to cash checks, he simply walks into HR and changes his SSN. He doesn’t really care that it messes you up, just that he can cash his check.
Okay, so you may be thinking, so what!? How can an illegal immigrant using my SSN to get work really affect me? At least he is paying taxes, right? Say your right, that he really is paying taxes using your SSN. What happens when the income that he reports gets added to the income that you really did earn? How would you like the next higher tax bracket? Stings, doesn’t it? People need to wake up to this problem. Your current tax bracket and future benefits may be effected by this right now.
How bad is the problem? Well, according to one industry magazine, there are entire industries that would disappear if the illegal immigrants couldn’t work. Meatpacking, bakeries, or any one of a dozen more. The problem is, what happens when there is more than one person works under the same SSN? According to MSNBC .com
When one of my colleagues, John Gardner, was speaking to a group in New Mexico, he met with a number of business owners and received a rude awakening. After discussing the different identity types and how they relate to identity theft, a business owner said that it is standard policy for ‘employees’ to change their SSN. What happens is the person in question uses an SSN until it doesn’t work any more. That could be because the government has finally gotten around to finding out the SSN didn’t match the individual or the real owner of the SSN found out that he had new income in his name. Regardless, when the ‘employee’ is no longer able to either work or, more importantly, use the SSN to be able to cash checks, he simply walks into HR and changes his SSN. He doesn’t really care that it messes you up, just that he can cash his check.
Okay, so you may be thinking, so what!? How can an illegal immigrant using my SSN to get work really affect me? At least he is paying taxes, right? Say your right, that he really is paying taxes using your SSN. What happens when the income that he reports gets added to the income that you really did earn? How would you like the next higher tax bracket? Stings, doesn’t it? People need to wake up to this problem. Your current tax bracket and future benefits may be effected by this right now.
How bad is the problem? Well, according to one industry magazine, there are entire industries that would disappear if the illegal immigrants couldn’t work. Meatpacking, bakeries, or any one of a dozen more. The problem is, what happens when there is more than one person works under the same SSN? According to MSNBC .com
“With every paycheck, U.S. workers pay FICA taxes, destined for Social Security funds. But each year, millions of payments are made to the agency with mismatched names and numbers. The Social Security Administration has no idea who deserves credit for the taxes paid by those wage earnings -- so no one gets it. The amount of uncredited Social Security wages is now an enormous $420 billion, an amount that sits in what's called the Earnings Suspense File, an accounting limbo.” *
One doesn’t have to do a tremendous amount of connecting the dots to understand that there is not a lot of incentive for the SSA to fix this problem. If MSNBC is correct, the SSA has $420 billion in excess cash to do whatever with until the disparities are corrected. I am not saying this report or these theories are right or wrong, it is only my job to report the findings.
*http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6814673/page/2/print/1/displaymode/1098/
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