Thread: TWO LIVES, ONE SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

Posted: Tuesday, May 27 at 06:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan
Like arriving home to see a broken window, Holli knew something was wrong when she pulled up the statement from her new 401(k) account and saw a stranger's name there. Under her name and account information, she found a second name: Paulino Rodriguez. But was it an accident, random vandalism or a serious crime? She opened the virtual door to her account and sorted through the broken glass. Her worst fears would soon be confirmed.

After some frantic research, Holli pieced together part of the story. Rodriguez, the 401(k) Web site revealed, lived in Escondido, Calif., about 90 minutes south of Holli’s home in Fountain Valley. He was a restaurant worker in an Escondido Burger King. This was no prank -- though Holli would soon feel like several government agencies, corporations and a criminal were having fun at her expense. She was a victim of something experts call Social Security number-only identity theft, generally committed by immigrants who don’t have the necessary credentials to work legally in the U.S.


Holli wondered what else the imposter had done to her credit and her good name. (Msnbc.com has agreed to conceal Holli’s identity in this story.)

Escondido is Ground Zero of the immigration debate. Just a few minutes north of the Mexican border, near San Diego, Escondido is home to thousands of Mexican immigrants who battle their way every day into the country and into gainful employment. Mexicans have been fighting in Escondido for a long time. Not far away, in 1846, U.S. forces were routed in the Battle of San Pasqual during the Mexican-American war, the worst American defeat of the conflict. Today, some say, Mexicans are again overwhelming American forces in a different kind of battle.

For the past three years, Paulino Rodriguez used Holli's Social Security number for the right to work at the Escondido Burger King. Recently, with his wife and four children, he took up residence in a middle-class subdivision on Espanas Glen Street in Escondido, a short block near Interstate 15.

Rodriguez, according U.S. immigration officials, is a Mexican national with no right to work in the United States. But thanks in part to Holli’s Social Security number, he had found a decent life for his family in Escondido, which means "hidden" in Spanish. But that that life was safe only if no one found out he was sharing Holli's identity.

Across America, perhaps millions of U.S. citizens are sharing their identities with undocumented workers who are virtually hiding behind Social Security numbers like Rodriguez. The data on the subject are incomplete, but each year nearly 10 million workers pay their taxes using the wrong Social Security number. While this can happen for a variety of reasons, most often it involves restaurant and farm workers, suggesting many of those 10 million workers are employees who are using someone else's SSN to satisfy federal employment requirements.

Information at her fingertips
Holli, a woman in her 50s, panicked one month ago when she saw Rodriguez’s name on her 401(k) account, then she started putting the pieces together. It wasn't hard -- she had all of Rodriguez's personal information right there on her screen, including his age: 38. She called his employer, Reddy Restaurants Inc., which supplies workers to Burger King. Holli says she was told that nothing could be done because Rodriguez fulfilled the requirements for employment when he started work -- namely, he supplied what appeared to be a valid Social Security card.

Mike Holly, owner of Reddy, confirmed that Rodriguez was an employee but refused to otherwise discuss the situation.

Holli then called the local police, who took a report but said nothing could be done. She contacted the Social Security Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, even her 401(k) administrator. The message she heard from each was the same: We can’t help you. She even went to an attorney, who delivered bad news.

"(He) said since my credit hadn't been affected, they couldn't do anything for me," Holli recalled.

But Holli was persistent. She eventually convinced her local police department to take a report, and to forward it to Escondido police. Then, she pestered the dispatcher in Escondido enough that the file was passed on to the investigations department. Detective Damon Vander Vorst took an interest in the case.

Rodriguez entered the country nearly 20 years ago, public records suggest. It's unclear where in Mexico he grew up, or how he crossed the border. At about the same time, Holli was just starting her career.
Precisely when their lives were blended isn't clear. But about three years ago, Holli remembers getting a funny look from a clerk while she was filling out insurance paperwork at an optometrist’s office. "There's someone else's using that (SSN) number," she remembers being told. Then, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but the name Paulino Rodriguez."

Holli assumed it was an error. But around that same time, Rodriguez signed up with Reddy Restaurants and began working -- using her SSN -- at Burger King.

Holli has no solid information on how her number was stolen, but she has one guess: About five years ago she was laid off from her job and went back to school to finish her college degree in finance. Her school, Long Beach State, used her SSN as her ID number during that time. Her first brush with Rodriguez happened within a few months of her graduation.

Three years passed without incident. Then in April, she opened up the Web site for a new company benefit – a 401(k) plan – and saw the name Paulino Rodriguez again. Holli’s heart sank and her quest began. It ended a month later when she talked to Vander Vorst. On May 13, Vander Vorst staked out a home in a gated subdivision named Villas Espanas, waiting for his suspect.

While there is an obvious Latino majority, the neighborhood looks just like any other middle-class San Diego suburb, full of neat white stucco townhomes with red-tile roofs. Most store signs are in English only. A dry cleaner, grocery store, and school are just a few blocks away. During a recent visit by an msnbc.com reporter at midday, the neighborhood was quiet. The subdivision has a large pool; hanging in Rodriguez’s front window, three pairs of child-sized goggles were visible from the sidewalk.

Just outside the home, Vander Vorst arrested Rodriguez. Police allege he had falsified Social Security card and work visa.

Getting such documents is hardly an obstacle for illegal immigrants seeking work. Fake Social Security cards and work visas can be purchased in Los Angeles for around $200, law enforcement officials say -- a small investment for the opportunity to work in the United States.

Rodriguez was charged with identity theft and with falsifying government documents, according to Escondido police spokesman Lt. Craig Carter. He was shipped to nearby Vista Detention Facility, where he awaits his fate on the criminal charges. meanwhile, the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency has placed a "hold" on him. That means he is "subject to deportation," according to Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE.

Rodriguez refused an interview request by an MSNBC.com free-lance reporter who visited the jail.

Mixed feelings
Holli had mixed feelings when she began her quest to track down her imposter.

"When all this began a month and a half ago, I was worried I might be ruining his life when all he wanted to do was work," she said. But the bureaucratic tangle had changed her. "Now after spending numerous hours of my time trying to find out what is going on as well as worrying, losing sleep and using my work vacation time, I no longer feel bad for Paulino. He made the choice to steal my number. And the fact that privacy laws keep me from being able to see what he is doing with my number infuriates me."

She also fears possible retribution for her actions; that’s why she insisted that msnbc.com preserve her anonymity. She also wants to prevent Rodriguez from finding out who she is. Generally, SSN imposters don't commit full-blown identity theft, and don't know who their victims are – Rodriguez likely never even knew Holli’s name.

Immigrant imposters usually just provide a Social Security card to their employer on their first day of work to fulfill what's known as the “I-9â€

Some of the comments left on this story illustrate that many people feel as we do about this problem.

The fact is, as long as SSN owners have to pay the consequences (defaulted loans, mortgages, unemployment benefits, etc.) while the IRS happily takes the taxes, the IRS has no incentive to change. There are even metrics in place to guarantee it doesn't! So called privacy laws guarantee that, should a problem arise, the IRS privately keeps the money while we're kept completely in the dark.

Face it, the IRS certainly isn't going to give back the $500 billion in the "suspense" fund is it? Sooner or later, that money will be conveniently and quietly "appropriated" for other purposes (such as guaranteeing treasury notes sold to foreign governments).

I have another idea. Would it be possible for a theft victim to sue the IRS for those funds? Does anyone know if it's a plausible idea? Since the SSN owners are made responsible for the consequences, should they not also reap the potential benefits (social security, unemployment, etc.)?

I'd even take it a step further. Ideally, I'd want possession of all assets attained through the SSN (sort of like existing laws regarding asset seizure through drug distribution arrests). That way should the impostor, for example, default on a mortgage, at least I'd get ownership of the house to sell while my credit was being wrecked.

Wouldn't such legislation curtail most SSN impostor abuse? If the impostor knew he/she would lose their house, car, etc. if they were caught, wouldn't that make them think twice before "setting down roots"?

Now, I know this is all quite far fetched and somewhat impractical. But since the IRS has refused to address the problem, perhaps putting it to them in a way they understand would help. After all, looting is the status quo for the Fed and the IRS. It has rotted the very core of our government and it's policies. If my idea sounds impractical, please consider that it only reflects how our government already conducts itself.

San Diego-based immigration rights advocate Lilia Velasquez sees similar cases in her practice all the time. Imposters run the spectrum from hardened criminals who ultimately take out loans in the victim's name to well-intentioned Mexicans who are simply doing what they need to do to get a job and feed their families.
"It's not that these people intentionally and maliciously stole someone's name and identity. ... They may feel that they are using the number out of sheer need," she said.

Definition of Intentional

deliberate: by conscious design or purpose; "intentional damage"; "a knowing attempt to defraud"; "a willful waste of time"
designed: done or made or performed with purpose and intent; "style...is more than the deliberate and designed creation"- Havelock Ellis; "games designed for all ages"; "well-designed houses"
done by design; "the insult was intentional"; "willful disobedience"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Definition of Malice:

The intentional commission of a wrongful act without legal justification with the intent of inflicting injury or harm, or under circumstances such that a person acting should reasonably have known that injury or harm would result.
www.dss.mo.gov/cd/info/cwmanual/section7/glossary/m.htm

Describes a wrongful act done intentionally without excuse.
www.crfonline.org/orc/glossary/m.html


Please, tell me again, where IAs using stolen documents and identities are not acting intentionally nor maliciously



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[quote]Immigrant imposters usually just provide a Social Security card to their employer on their first day of work to fulfill what's known as the “I-9â€

When another person is using a consumers' Social Security Number for employment purposes only, there is almost no way to discover the identity theft. The misuse will not show up on a credit report; it won't be detected by credit monitoring. Because the wages earned are not credited to the victim, they won't show up on annual Social Security statements either. In fact, there is no way for anyone to inspect the history of their Social Security Number, or to find out where and when it's been used. Only an anomaly or coincidence – such as having an imposter show up on a 401(k) Web site -- betrays the theft.




I forgot to comment on this. It's an outright lie....the question being if the reporter did not get the facts straight, or simply chose to intentionally misreport them.

There is a way to inspect the history of one's SS #. You can also find out where and when it's been used.

From the minute that number starts being used...whether by the legitimate owner or an identity thief....the SSA has a documented history of when date-wise it is used, and where in terms of the city, state, and employer.

You can get a copy of that history from the SSA.

This is how we found out about my husband being the victim of Identity theft. We were beginning the process of applying for his benefits after he became ill. During the course of an initial phone interview, the SSA employee began going through his employment history with him and the questionable items came to light. A few days later, we received our copy in the mail, and there was everything....right there, plain as day, staring us right in the face. The following morning he had another phone interview with a different employee, assigned to investigate fraudulent use of his number, and they went over it together. They removed the earnings which were not his, flagged his number, and gave us a list of further steps to take.

This employee told my husband that everyone can obtain a copy of their work history from the SSA, I believe, once per year, and stated that they recommend this as another weapon against identity theft.

Duplicate Poat

http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-117021-0.html