The Associated Press is reporting on an odd Social Security number problem. The Federated States of Micronesia is an independent nation. It has its own Social Security system and assigns its own Social Security numbers to Micronesians. The Micronesian Social Security numbers have only eight digits while U.S. Social Security numbers have nine digits. The United States has a treaty with Micronesia which gives the U.S. certain defense rights but gives Micronesia certain rights, such as receiving loans and grants from the U.S. after disasters. U.S. federal agencies collect Social Security numbers from loan recipients. When working in Micronesia they collected the Micronesian Social Security numbers. Some computer programs automatically assigned a "0" an the end of the Micronesian Social Security number to make it nine digits. Some of the Micronesians defaulted on their loans and then U.S. federal agencies started using debt collectors who tried to use the Micronesian Social Security numbers as if it were U.S. Social Security numbers. The debt collectors started trying to collect the debt from the U.S. citizen whose Social Security number was the same as the Micronesian Social Security number with a "0" added to the end. Credit reporting agencies were also notified. Apparently, there are 200 or so of these cases already. The problem has been around for years and no one seems to be doing anything about it.
The ultimate solution is for credit bureaus to be made to stop using SSNs like they do; the interim is for agriculture to recognize that SSNs don't work for those territories and come up with an alternative. SSA is as much a victim here as the poor folks getting harassed by debt colection agencies.
ReplyDeletei heard that you can look up people's social security number on a bunch of websites like http://www.peoplecrunch.com
ReplyDeletei did not know all that data was public
It isn't. But, once it gets out there, it belongs to whoever wants to buy it. SSA and federal agencies don't disclose SSN's as a general rule (on purpose, that is.) The usual source of SSN info is credit bureaus and other sources, in my experience. I note here that there are undoubtedly careful credit agencies, but there are many who aren't. But, you could walk into any doctor's office or hospital records room and help yourself to all kinds of information, right out of a trash can or dumpster. It's all valuable on the docs market.
ReplyDelete