http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 12,00.html
Numbers theft widespread

Social Security data stolen all the time, state probe suggests

By James Paton, Rocky Mountain News
December 14, 2006
Colorado's labor department was doing its own detective work into the theft of Social Security numbers as federal immigration officials conducted the probe that led to the Swift & Co. raids.
The state investigation came to some startling conclusions:

• One Social Security number appeared on the payrolls of more than 50 different companies across Colorado.

• The number that had been in the hands of convicted cop killer Raul Gomez-Garcia, an illegal immigrant who worked at the Denver restaurant Cherry Cricket as a dishwasher, was used by four other people.

• A 10-year-old boy's number showed up at more than a dozen businesses.

It went on and on.

"I thought there might be some misuse of Social Security numbers, but I didn't think it would get to this level," said Drew Durham, inspector general at the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment.

Fewer than five percent of the roughly 1,200 people arrested at the Swift plants are suspected of identity theft, but the state's research suggests that numbers are stolen all of the time.

The labor department has shared its findings with the Social Security Administration and Homeland Security officials and has written letters to 90 Colorado companies, alerting them to potential problems with the documents they have filed, said Rick Grice, the department's executive director.

The letter reminds companies of their duty to "file true and accurate reports" with the state and of the fines they could face.

"Our belief is that most of the errors we have found have been inadvertent transcription errors," the department wrote, giving employers the benefit of the doubt. "Some errors, however, may have originated through identity theft."

Grice declined to identify the companies that the state has contacted, saying that the department assumed they had acted "with good intent." He would not say whether Greeley-based Swift was on the list.

It is worrying that "to the best of my knowledge people have no way" to determine whether illegal immigrants or others have ripped off their numbers, Grice said.

Social Security numbers and other personal data can be used to get a job, establish credit and run up debt, and can lead to serious dilemmas for victims, the labor department said. One woman was denied federal housing assistance because her number was being used in Denver at multiple jobs. That, on paper, made her income too high to qualify.

At least part of the problem is a lack of cooperation between government agencies, all of which play different roles, Durham said.

The Colorado labor department's job is narrowly defined to ensure that people are not fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits. If that activity is not uncovered, the department is limited in what it can, even if it spots individuals using stolen numbers, Durham said.

"All the agencies need to work together and tear down these walls," Durham said.

Businesses also have been able to rely on a "good-faith" defense, saying that they have done what is legally required to verify their employees are in the country legally, he said.

Swift, whose workers at meatpacking plants in Colorado and other states were rounded up on Tuesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, has been using the Basic Pilot database to check the status of new hires.

A bill that takes effect in January requires employers to make and keep copies of documents and to attest that employees are legally in the country.

The letters, new legislation and the spotlight on illegal immigration appears to be working, labor department officials said. When they analyzed the issue last year, they found that around 250 Social Security numbers had appeared six or more times.

The number had dipped to about 150 at last check.

"We were wondering if the letter we had sent out to a bunch of employers might have been a little bit responsible for that," Grice said.

The letter referred businesses to the state labor department's Web site - www.coworkforce.com - which has details about a free online Social Security verification service.

"There are still a lot of stolen Social Security numbers out there," he added, "but at least things are moving in the right direction."