Misplaced Social Security Number

March 14, 2017 8:48 PM

I misplaced a piece of paperwok with my SSN on it. How risky is the situation, and what is the best way to get a replacement if that's the ideal solution?

I've been trying to apply for disability benefits, and I, klutz that I am, recently misplaced a letter from Social Security that contained my Social Security number (not in a public place, but it is missing and I can't find it). I've checked my banking account, and no money has been taken out.

Is there any way to preemptively defend myself from potential identity theft? Should I panic, or is it possible/better to get a replacement number? How hard would getting a replacement number be?

posted by thedarksideofprocyon to Work & Money (6 answers total)

You are probably fine. Most people will see a piece of paper litter to be thrown out, not valuable identity theft information. It is also possible that someone might see what it is and tear it up so nobody else gets it. Good people, bad people, and oblivious people all exist.

That said, you can call your bank and ask them what protections are available to you. Sometimes they can set an account password or freeze your account, or at least issue new debit cards.

You can also sign up for a credit monitoring service which will supposedly alert you (mine did not pick up on either an instance of minor credit card fraud or my legal name change, so maybe don't go with Experian), or for free, check your credit report once a year or as often as possible (you get a free report every time you are turned down for credit or loans-- it's the silver lining of being turned down!)

Getting a new Social Security Card and number is somewhat of a pain in the neck, but if you want to do it, you can. I would call my bank and credit cards to see what options they had for prevention of fraud first, and review the existing resources for identity theft victims before I went so far as to change my SSN.
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:10 PM on March 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: You are probably fine. Most people will see a piece of paper litter to be thrown out, not valuable identity theft information. It is also possible that someone might see what it is and tear it up so nobody else gets it. Good people, bad people, and oblivious people all exist.

My parents are very upset and think my number will be stolen, saying that no one will mistake a letter with a SSN for trash and will either hand it in to return or steal it. They want me to get the paper back, which I don't think is very likely. Worst case scenario is that I dropped it in a parking lot and it blew away, or I accidentally trashed it, in which case it's gone.

I fully acknowledge that I don't totally understand the damage someone can do if they have a letter like that, or what signs to look for if a SSN falls into malicious hands, but I don't think it's coming back and think it would be more useful to take steps to protect my account than chase after it. I'll be calling my credit union in the morning for advice.
posted by thedarksideofprocyon at 10:02 PM on March 14, 2017

A person's SSN can be calculated from their place and date of birth with a fair degree of accuracy without even correlating it with information from databases. So, no need for you to lose a piece of paper for a bad guy to get hold of yours.

Preparing for identity theft and understanding the ways it can happen can be worth it, since it's not uncommon, but a lost piece of paper with identity information on it isn't as significant an event as it would have been in the last century, because it has a much smaller relative value to the criminal today compared to buying the details for a hundred thousand people in one batch off the internet.
posted by XMLicious at 10:24 PM on March 14, 2017

Best answer: Identity theft is not a crime of opportunity. It is exceedingly unlikely that a person will stumble across your crumpled paper in a parking lot, recognize the nine-digit number, and decide in that moment to become an identity thief. And honest-to-God identity thieves don't want your Social Security number; they want hundreds and thousands of Social Security numbers, which aren't actually that difficult to get.

If your or your parents' panic is based on some relevant experience, then by all means, utilize every option available. On the other hand, if none of the three of you has any actual experience in this field, and your collective panic is based on TV shows and such, then I recommend a deep breath and a sip of cold juice. It's going to be okay.
posted by cribcage at 10:52 PM on March 14, 2017 [17 favorites]

A person with your name, birth date, address, and SSN would theoretically be able to open a credit card in your name (but they'd have to immediately change the address in order to receive the card.)

You can easily monitor that by monitoring your credit. You can also ask for a credit freeze with the three credit bureaus which will make it more difficult for someone to open a new line of credit. (Not a bad idea anyway, regardless of the lost paper.)

I agree with others that this is unlikely because ID theft is not usually an individual randomly running across a paper in a parking lot; it's a high-tech thing these days. I've had fraudulent charges on my debit card from across the country (I don't know if that makes you feel better or worse.)
posted by kapers at 7:51 AM on March 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm a recent victim of identity theft using my SSN. Don't know how the thieves got hold of my number (likely in one of the recent publicized large data breaches), but they used it to open credit accounts at a variety of online retailers, and successfully made purchases using some of the fraudulent accounts. It took a few hours of phone calls and a little paperwork, but I wasn't ultimately held responsible for any of these charges. My actual bank accounts were not affected. Once I started closing fraudulent accounts, the fraudsters stopped trying to open new ones using my information, presumably because they realized that I was on to them and it would be a waste of their time.

You can pull each of your three credit reports once per year at annualcreditreport.com, so you can pull a credit report every four months if you want (e.g. Experian in January, Equifax in May, Transunion in September). If you see accounts on there that don't belong to you, call the bank or company issuing the account and let them know the account is fraudulent. If fraudulent accounts do appear, you can notify the reporting bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion) and they can put a fraud flag on your credit reports so that if additional potential creditors pull them before issuing a line of credit, they will see that you have been the victim of identity theft, which should (but does not always) lead the creditor to do extra diligence before extending credit. As others have discussed, you can also place a freeze on your account.

You can also subscribe to a monitoring service like MyIDCare - this was helpful to me after I discovered the fraudulent accounts because it showed me in real-time when new accounts were opened, which allowed me to close them immediately. I got this service for free, but if you have to pay for it, it might be overkill before you know that your info got into the hands of someone intending to use it maliciously, and capable of doing so.

I agree with others that you don't seem to be at a particularly elevated risk of identity theft as a result of the loss of this paper. If you did drop it in a parking lot, odds are that it's gross and somewhat illegible by now due to it getting soaking wet, run over, or tangled and torn by the wind and landscaping. Even if someone took the time to read a piece of paper they found in a parking lot, and noticed it had a SSN on it, I'd bet that they'd be far more likely to throw it away than try to return it or use it for criminal purposes.
posted by burden at 10:10 AM on March 15, 2017 [1 favorite]