Thread: Children Stolen Social Security Number and Identity

Well, I took a poster advice so I called the social security administration national toll free hotline. After inputting all my info, my social security number, my mothers maiden name, I was transfered to a holding pattern that lasted over 45 minutes of hold time. A older black female answered the line and I was so happy to finally be talking to somebody. She asked how she could help me and I knew by the sluggish tone of her voice this was not gonna be a good call.

I proceeded to explain to her my concern that I live in Arizona and I was concerned about identity theft of my 11 year old Son's social security number and that I would like to verify it isn't currently being used for employment purposes; in other words, their records should reflect no earnings as he has never had a paying job where taxes were paid.

She proceeded to tell me I need to pull his credit to see if it was being used illegally. I said "huh" thats not what I am looking for, I am calling you so I can check his social security account. She replied again to go pull his credit report. Now I am getting a little irate because she seems to not be understanding my simple request.

I say a third time "Mamm, I won't to check his social security record, not his credit record". She replies, if someone was using his social security number we would know because of his young age that it wasn't him and we would send you a letter.

Now that did not make a bit of sense to me and I proceeded to tell her that. I told her "how would you even know where to send a letter to since he has never even worked and you don't have his current address and the one we listed on the orginal application is no longer valid because I have moved three times since then?"

That question threw her completely off and she was obviously getting frustrated with me as I was with her and she told me "Sir, all I can say is go check at your local social security office and see if they can help you".

So I asked her, would they be able to look at his master index file for his social security number and let me know if any earnings are posted to it?"

Simple question and since this is the national hotline number I called for the main office I expected she would know since she is directing me to go to my local office.

She stated "Sir, you will have to go there and see if they can do that". So at this point I am really frustrated because I am going in circles with her so I tell her that before I go and stand in some line I would just like to know if I bring my Son's original birth certificate and social security card along with 10 forms of my personal ID would I be able to check that at my local office, is it something parents can request?

Her reply was "Sir, I don't know, you will have to go down there and see".

Now, I am going ballistic and I ask her, Do you not work for social security and is this not the mainline number? She replies back to me "Sir, I know I work for social security, you do not need to tell me that".

I told her well if we both agree now that you work for socal security why is it that you can't answer my question or you refuse to answer my question? She replied, "Sir, I can't help you and I am going to hang up now".

So at that point I realized I was riding a dead horse with her so I requested to speak to a supervisor who could hopefully answer my question and she replied "Sir, I already answered your question, you need to go to your local office and ask them if they can do that".

I repeated my request to speak to a supervisor and she stated "no, I am going to hang up now" and I asked her what her employee ID number was and she blurted "Group 14" and then she hung up without saying another word.

By now I am seeing stars and other colors as I am very livid about how the last 1-hour of my life was wasted and I will never get it back.

I spent another half hour on the social security website looking for some complaint phone number or e-mail address or online form or downloadable complaint form and there is none!

So, at this point I have not had an opportunity to take 2-3 hours more out of my life to physically go down to the local social security office to inquire if this is even allowable.

I tried to do one of the online request form for a yearly earnings statement but it doen't allow you to enter any birthdates under 14 years of age so I couldn't even check that way.

I am hoping next week I can find some time and go down there and I will be sure to bring a suitcase worth of identity documents so I am assured I have everything I could possibly need because I don't want to stand in a long line just to find out they need something I didn't bring.

Stay tune as I will update this story next week and let everybody know how it turns out!

she has a very valid point .. just pull a credit report on him ... if he has income , a job , credit etc , that will pull up right away ....

credit reports are free , i've even used one myself , go to the major credit reporting webcites , or maybe it was the government webcite i forget , and they will let you run a free credit report ... that will save you alot more time than going down to the SS office ..

The SS office is not that bad to go to...... I go quite often to get info as I have just started drawing SS.... bring his Birth Certificate with you that shows you as the parent.... and you should be able to get the info....remember...you get a lot further with sweetness.. they even have told me that my X is not retired yet...what his SS amount would be etc... all info I am not supposed to have....but....I am "sweet"
I have been in/out in less than 1/2 hour

I understand that pulling his credit will let me know if somebody is using his identity to do things like buy items on credit but it doesn't mean employment info would be on there. I tried to pull his credit on the free website but due to his age it won't let me and requires I fill out a form and mailit in with a copy of his birth certificate, a copy of his social security card, and a copy of my ID to prove I am the parent.

I am somewhat uncomfortable about sending those items in because you never know how many eyes will see it and where it ends up at.

For me the first step was to just check his social security record to see if his number was being used for illegal employment purposes.

They don't make it a simple process and the lady at social security just couldn't answer a simple question; can a parent check his number and see if it is being used.

For me I get an annual statement that I can check to see if it matches my W-2 so I know nobody is using my number and I subscribed to a credit monitoring company so I get my reports frequently and if any activity occurs I get an e-mail.

Just frustrating it such a difficult process and it shouldn't be and it may discourage parents from putting forth the effort from checking.

It won't stop me but I would bet it does many others.

oh yeah , that would tottally stop me , even the thought of going down to the SS office makes me sleepy ....

Originally Posted by fedupinwaukegan

Call the SS office. Check their site for the number. I did for our children. Just explain that you want to see if there is any activity, etc... I call every year -they have always been helpful and understanding why I would be concerned.


http://www.ssa.gov/

And don't forget to click this link to the SSA office, just in case:

http://www.ssa.gov/espanol

Originally Posted by PatriotAZGUY

Well, I took a poster advice so I called the social security administration national toll free hotline. After inputting all my info, my social security number, my mothers maiden name, I was transfered to a holding pattern that lasted over 45 minutes of hold time. A older black female answered the line and I was so happy to finally be talking to somebody. She asked how she could help me and I knew by the sluggish tone of her voice this was not gonna be a good call.

The problem here is that I doubt that the SSA is going to admit, over the phone, that someone may be using your child's SSN. Your local office MAY be more helpful but then AGAIN, maybe not. It all depends on instructions they have received about handling calls like yours.

Obviously, thousands of numbers are being misused, probably even millions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHQ9sg4LRvc

Notice the news says "immigrants" and not "ILLEGAL Immigrants" Stupid, isn't it? Notice how the State didn't want to mail out 20,000 letters in one batch but only 100 so people don't get upset all at once and revolt.

This was back in 2007. Nothing has changed since. If anything, it's only gotten worse. Crazy, isn't it? People stealing kids socials to work and getting away with it.

Here is what solved my problem with Social Security when my mom was still alive. Someone keyed in her number as having died accidentally and she found out when she went to the doctor and they would not pay him.

She lived in NJ, I lived in GA, and she does not drive but took a cab to the local office with picture ID to show them she was still alive. They would not help her. I called the SSA and got the same type of person there - she said I could not call about someone else. I reminded her that the SSA considered my mom dead and I was the only living family member, that they could not have it both ways. She hung up because I was too logical.

Then, I called my Senator's office. The kind person who answered the phone said they have two full time employees who do nothing but deal with constituents' SS problems. By this time, my mom's monthly checks had stopped, and although she was okay for awhile with that because of savings, how many older people live month to month and would lose their homes/apartments?

They contacted my mom, solved the problem, instructed the NJ senator's office, who wrote both me and my mom to contact his office immediately if it happened again. It did happen again one more time, but the NJ senator's office handled it quickly and efficiently.

The reason I originally thought to call my senator was because I worked for his campaign and sent in contributions and I was thinking of some payback, but that is not the case. Just contact them about a Federal agency issue, and your local State rep or senator for local issues.

My mom continued to receive SSA benefits until she died of natural causes at age 87.

Yes this is on my to-do list. It is so disgusting that we have to - and yes it is time-consuming and no it is not a job that you can get legitimate time off from work for - nope we have to dance around and lie about a bogus doctor appointment and ooopps! That won't work because now they insist that you show proof from the doctor's office that you went. And OMG - if somebody sees me and reports me because I am at the Social Security office instead of the doctors - I lose my job. Wonder why so many of us feel like slaves?