Fergie's Tech Blog

The Secret List of ID Theft Victims

Bob Sullivan writes on MSNBC:

Linda Trevino, who lives in a Chicago suburb, applied for a job in 2004 at a local Target department store, and was denied. The reason? She already worked there — or rather, her Social Security number already worked there.

Follow-up investigation revealed the same Social Security number had been used to obtain work at 37 other employers, mostly by illegal immigrants trying to satisfy government requirements to get a job.

Trevino is hardly alone. MSNBC.com research and government reports suggest hundreds of thousands of American citizens are in the same spot — unknowingly lending their identity to illegal immigrants so they can work. And while several government agencies and private corporations sometimes know whose Social Security numbers are being ripped off, they don't notify the victims — at least not until they come after them for back taxes or unpaid loans owed by the imposter.

posted by Fergie @ 12/12/2006 01:19:00 PM