Is it a good idea to take out a full-page ad giving away your SS number?

[arnisador]

ID-protection ads come back to bite pitchman

Attorney David Paris said he found records of other people applying for or receiving driver's licenses at least 20 times using Davis' Social Security number, though some of the applications may have been rejected because data in them didn't match what the Social Security Administration had on file.


Davis acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that his stunt has led to at least 87 instances in which people have tried to steal his identity, and one succeeded: a guy in Texas who duped an online payday loan operation last year into giving him $500 using Davis' Social Security number.
[...]
"It's further evidence of the ineffectiveness of the services that LifeLock advertises," said Paris, who is lead attorney on the three new lawsuits, the latest of which was filed this month.
[...]
Paris noted that LifeLock charges $10 a month to set fraud alerts with credit bureaus, even though consumers can do it themselves for free.

I see these ads in the newspaper all the time--huge, full-page ads in which he gives out his social security number. Shockingly enough, if you do that someone can take advantage of it. I always thought the ads were deceiving and it sounds like it's so.

Still, it's worrisome how easy it is for someone to steal your identity...and how many places require your SS number. Mine is all over the place.

 

[terryl965]

I know I have been a victom of Identity thief. There really nothing one can do but fight it once it happens and that by itself is hard enough.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

By law, only the following have a right to your social security number
: Employers for Tax Purposes
: You are involved in a transaction in which the Internal Revenue Service requires notification.
: The Patriot Act requires financial institutions to verify customers' identities, which can involve the SSN.


You are NOT required to put a SSN on a job application, until such time as the employer offers you the job and needs you to fill out your tax paperwork.

You are NOT required to give it to your landlord.

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 prohibits states from displaying your SSN on drivers' licenses or motor vehicle registrations. The law went into effect on December 17, 2005, and applies to all licenses, registrations, and state identification cards issued after that date. If your current license still uses your SSN as the ID number, you can request that this be changed. You do not have to wait until it expires to get a new one with a different number on it. However, you might be charged a fee for this new issuance.


For ALOT! more information, read this
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs10-ssn.htm

 

[Rich Parsons]

ID-protection ads come back to bite pitchman



I see these ads in the newspaper all the time--huge, full-page ads in which he gives out his social security number. Shockingly enough, if you do that someone can take advantage of it. I always thought the ads were deceiving and it sounds like it's so.

Still, it's worrisome how easy it is for someone to steal your identity...and how many places require your SS number. Mine is all over the place.

When the credit card companies ask me to pay for their protection service, I ask them what they would do with an ex-wife that can obtain a marriage certificate and thereby prove she is married to you and obtian credit in your name, or based upon your credit history? There is always silence. I then reply, "No Thank you", I will continue to do what I can to limit access to the data required to steal an identity.

I always thought these adds had something that was just not right.

 

[CoryKS]

If your system can actually do what you claim it can do, it's a great idea in terms of demonstrating effectiveness.

If your system can't do it, it's a terrible idea. Not only do you get to experience the joys of id theft, you've just killed your company.

 

[Empty Hands]

Half the colleges I have gone to school at or worked at use your SS# as your student ID#. One college usually posted everyone's grades on big posted lists by student ID#...free SS#'s for all!

 

[Kacey]

I looked at Life-Lock one day, and noted that all through the site comments like "you could do this yourself - but we do it for you". After the 3rd or 4th time I saw that comment, I left the site.

 

[MA-Caver]

I looked at Life-Lock one day, and noted that all through the site comments like "you could do this yourself - but we do it for you". After the 3rd or 4th time I saw that comment, I left the site.

Yeah well, obviously the marketing was targeting the lazy... which you are not obviously.

I saw these same ads and I'm like... umm no, that's okay. Thanks for asking though.

Now he gets burned by his own marketing and is currently being sued by customers who got burned as well.

 

[jks9199]

Half the colleges I have gone to school at or worked at use your SS# as your student ID#. One college usually posted everyone's grades on big posted lists by student ID#...free SS#'s for all!

Which was actually illegal...

By federal law, since they were created, nobody was supposed to use the SSN as the base tracking number except the IRS...

However, the thing about the Lifelock ads, at least according to some things I recall reading, is that you wouldn't WANT to steal the founder/president's identity. He's got a notable criminal history (I recall it included fraud), and has declared bankruptcy more than once, if I remember the article properly...

 

[Kacey]

I do find it interesting that, after years of using SSN as a login, the company that holds my student loans suddenly (in the last 10 days) switched to a user name system, citing user requests - I was one of them!