It is always obnoxious when you are unnecessarily asked for your social security number and yet this has become common practice among companies and other organizations as a way to verify or identify. What makes it especially obnoxious is that it’s unnecessary and at the same time poses dire, potentially dire consequences for the consumer.
So let’s get into some of the details. Social security numbers were not originally identifiers. They were a way to track social security benefits. Today, of course, there’s an over reliance on social security numbers as Organizations from banks to utility companies are requiring social security numbers as a way to open up accounts and avail yourself of services.
But of course we know that they can’t keep this information safe and we know this because data breaches. commonly make the news despite the fact that entities always try to keep this suppress this information or downplay it, right? Your information has been inappropriately accessed or may have been inappropriately accessed, and that can include your social security number.
So why? Take that risk to begin with companies should not be asking for your social security numbers Because in most instances they don’t need them and because we don’t because we know they can’t keep them safe because we know other hacks are Are in an an inevitability? They shouldn’t have our social security numbers to begin with Moreover, they already know who we are.
How are we at this point where we have all of this technology and yet more information is needed? You already have phone numbers, emails, addresses, names, date of births, credit cards. What do you need the social security number for? So this is, this is highly problematic and many times it’s necessary, right?
If you are a consumer and you need utilities or you need to use another service or you have to open up a bank account, you’re not going to be able to do so without providing your social security number. And this is completely, it should never be the case that you have to hand over your social security number because of the dire consequences I mentioned previously.
So now let’s talk about some of those consequences. Well, you have identity theft. If somebody steals your identity, They can impersonate you. They can open up bank accounts. They can apply for credit. They can make purchases in your name. There can be other fraudulent activities. So someone can file false tax returns.
They can claim fraudulent social security benefits. They can even receive medical services. And then the long term impact is enormous. It goes on forever and ever. It’s not easy to change your social security number. So once it’s compromised, misuse can persist for years. And so this means you always have to be on alert and you always have to be monitoring what’s happening and trying to ensure as best as possible that nobody is using your social security number.
for the aforementioned criminal reasons. And this can also have legal complications. If somebody commits a crime using your identity, it can be difficult to extricate yourself from that crime. And so this can also tarnish your reputation. And then there’s the loss of privacy. If someone else has your social security number, bad actors can access personal details about you.
And then of course they can make that open online and that can lead to any number of other problems. So it’s really, really problematic to ask for a social security number when you don’t need it. It’s totally unfair to consumers and it should never happen because we know that information is susceptible to being hacked.
Your data is not safe. It doesn’t matter how big the company is. It doesn’t matter how large the corporation is, they can be hacked. And because of that, they should never ask for social security numbers.