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I wrote an application for a banking client a few years ago that required a valid SSN. In addition to using the information available on ssa.gov to check the va

I wrote an application for a banking client a few years ago that required a valid SSN. In addition to using the information available on ssa.gov to check the validity of a number, I built a simple filter to exclude valid, but otherwise fraudulent numbers. While none of the steps I took are a bulletproof measure against identity theft, they do lighten the load a bit. I cross-referenced the SSN death index to ensure dead people had not risen from the grave to apply for credit. I also excluded the popular "fake" SSNs used in advertising (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_number#SSNs_invalidated_by_use_in_advertising http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_number#SSNs_inv...), and I most definitely added Todd Davis's number to the list. This last step seemed like a no-brainer given all of the publicity at the time. While I can understand a small boutique store not going to those lengths to prevent a fraudulent account, I am a little surprised that AT&T and Verizon were among the casualties.

recampbell 16y ago
A lot of identity theft occurs when people just make up an SSN and use it to gain employment or credit. If they are lucky, the credit file doesn't exist yet and no one is the wiser. The "theft" part occurs when someone is assigned that SSN starts using it and finds out that they have $300,000 in bad loans on their credit file. This is usually a kid who is applying for student loans or their first car loan. Then they must spend time/money cleaning up their credit file. http://news.debix.com/index.php/2008/11/teenager-tarnished-by-600000-house-foreclosure/ http://news.debix.com/index.php/2008/11/teenager-tarnished-b... Discolsure: I'm a former employee and current investor in Debix.
mikeryan 16y ago
Apparently AT&T and Verizon wanted Todd Davis's business ;-)
spoiledtechie 16y ago
Its interesting you could do all this with a SSN. The program I mean. If you can do this easily, then why can dead people still vote... I am being serious.
- evgen 16y ago
  Voter rolls do not contain your SSN (since volunteers man the registry at polling stations it is considered bad form to put something like this on a list that may just walk out the door at the end of election day.) Voter rolls contain name and address at time of registration or last update to registration. These registries are occasionally purged of dead people when possible, but the risk (a few "dead" people voting) is considered slight compared to the cost of keeping the registry up to date or of disenfranchising someone by mistakenly deciding that they were dead.
  - anamax 16y ago
    > These registries are occasionally purged of dead people when possible, but the risk (a few "dead" people voting) is considered slight compared to the cost of keeping the registry up to date or of disenfranchising someone by mistakenly deciding that they were dead.
mey 16y ago
According to the SSNVS service information, you are supposed to only use this information for correctly completing IRS W-2. Verifying the SSN using that service for banking (as I'm reading it) is a clear violation of the system. Reference (http://www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnvshandbk/ssnvs_bso.htm http://www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnvshandbk/ssnvs_bso.htm) If you were using a different service I'd be interested, as we are always looking for new ways to do validation of accounts.
- tanglisha 16y ago
  That was my argument against printing it on my military id. Ignored, of course.
- bullseye 16y ago
  We weren't able to use the online verification service , which is the reason I wrote the program I described. It didn't validate a "good" SSN, but rather filtered out bad ones. http://www.ssa.gov/ http://www.ssa.gov/ and http://www.socialsecurity.gov http://www.socialsecurity.gov both have a lot of useful information about structure and allocation of SSNs if you are looking to do something similar.
harshpotatoes 16y ago
Years ago when I first set up my bank account with a big bank(I believe I was 13?), they transposed two of the numbers in my SSN. Ten years later, this mistake was finally caught when somebody attempted to set up an account using their correct SSN, which conveniently was my mistaken SSN. And that's when I realized how easy it is to steal a person's identity.

recampbell 16y ago

A lot of identity theft occurs when people just make up an SSN and use it to gain employment or credit. If they are lucky, the credit file doesn't exist yet and no one is the wiser. The "theft" part occurs when someone is assigned that SSN starts using it and finds out that they have $300,000 in bad loans on their credit file. This is usually a kid who is applying for student loans or their first car loan. Then they must spend time/money cleaning up their credit file. http://news.debix.com/index.php/2008/11/teenager-tarnished-by-600000-house-foreclosure/ http://news.debix.com/index.php/2008/11/teenager-tarnished-b... Discolsure: I'm a former employee and current investor in Debix.

mikeryan 16y ago

Apparently AT&T and Verizon wanted Todd Davis's business ;-)

spoiledtechie 16y ago

Its interesting you could do all this with a SSN. The program I mean. If you can do this easily, then why can dead people still vote... I am being serious.

evgen 16y ago
Voter rolls do not contain your SSN (since volunteers man the registry at polling stations it is considered bad form to put something like this on a list that may just walk out the door at the end of election day.) Voter rolls contain name and address at time of registration or last update to registration. These registries are occasionally purged of dead people when possible, but the risk (a few "dead" people voting) is considered slight compared to the cost of keeping the registry up to date or of disenfranchising someone by mistakenly deciding that they were dead.
- anamax 16y ago
  > These registries are occasionally purged of dead people when possible, but the risk (a few "dead" people voting) is considered slight compared to the cost of keeping the registry up to date or of disenfranchising someone by mistakenly deciding that they were dead.

mey 16y ago

According to the SSNVS service information, you are supposed to only use this information for correctly completing IRS W-2. Verifying the SSN using that service for banking (as I'm reading it) is a clear violation of the system. Reference (http://www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnvshandbk/ssnvs_bso.htm http://www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnvshandbk/ssnvs_bso.htm) If you were using a different service I'd be interested, as we are always looking for new ways to do validation of accounts.

tanglisha 16y ago
That was my argument against printing it on my military id. Ignored, of course.
bullseye 16y ago
We weren't able to use the online verification service , which is the reason I wrote the program I described. It didn't validate a "good" SSN, but rather filtered out bad ones. http://www.ssa.gov/ http://www.ssa.gov/ and http://www.socialsecurity.gov http://www.socialsecurity.gov both have a lot of useful information about structure and allocation of SSNs if you are looking to do something similar.

harshpotatoes 16y ago

Years ago when I first set up my bank account with a big bank(I believe I was 13?), they transposed two of the numbers in my SSN. Ten years later, this mistake was finally caught when somebody attempted to set up an account using their correct SSN, which conveniently was my mistaken SSN. And that's when I realized how easy it is to steal a person's identity.