How protective are you of your social security number?

May 12, 2022, 10:42 PM

Not really much point in it. The numbers have been bought and sold, stolen and resold.

The idea of using it for social security was a good one. However once it was used for something other than SS, it became a commodity.

May 12, 2022, 10:47 PM

Pipe Smoker

quote:
Originally posted by bossman:
When I attended Iowa State University, exam scores were posted outside the classroom by SSN's. No one cared at that time.

Yeah, times have changed – a lot. Back then Tylenol bottles on store shelves weren’t sealed because it hadn’t occurred to the perps that it’d be lotsa fun to poison strangers.

May 13, 2022, 10:03 AM

Rey HRH

Anything financial like banking, you know you have to give your SSN. My doctors? I leave that blank. No one's given me any pushback yet. They don't need my SSN to diagnose and treat me.

I'm pretty protective of my SSN and I think everyone's hip to that. Except recently, I got around to filing a VA Disability Claim. They sent me acknowledgment that they received my claim and are processing it. If I need to follow up with them on my claim, I'm just to give them my claim number. The claim number they assigned to me? My SSN.

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.

May 13, 2022, 10:29 AM

slosig

More than I used to be. Heck, I wrote it in a few people’s logbooks before the FAA got away from using your SSN as you pilot’s and instructor’s license number.

I haven’t got away with not giving it to banks on account opening (thanks, KYC laws), but I just tell medical practitioners, “Nope. Nunyun, mindyun.” I don’t know if it was a CA law, but there was a law passed a few years ago that medical practices can’t require SSNs. They still ask, but they don’t even grumble when I tell them No.

I’ve generally stopped opening credit accounts for the business because I am not willing to provide the info they require.

May 13, 2022, 10:37 AM

selogic

I know it's all over the place but I still avoid giving it out as much as possible . I also do not put my birthday on any form social media or any Internet forum , etc. If I'm required to fill in the blank I use a a fake birthday .

May 13, 2022, 12:02 PM

TMats

As protective as I can be. I’ve never given my SSN to a medical office, MD or DDS, although they always ask for it. Just recently I had an appointment with a specialist affiliated with the same medical group my PCP is with. They wanted me to check-in online ahead of time, but the program wouldn’t let me do that without giving them my SSN. I’ll be damned if I’m giving that critical piece of PII to some corporate medical group with multiple offices, affiliated with a regional hospital, with God-knows how many administrative employees. So I don’t pre check-in. It takes a minute at the front desk and they don’t ask for my SSN. I’m not naive, I know it’s out there, but why make it easy for someone.

May 13, 2022, 12:14 PM

220-9er

This gives a good summary of who can require your SS number.

Others can ask, you can say no.

https://www.identityhawk.com/W...ial-Security-Number/

May 13, 2022, 12:15 PM

signewt

quote:
medical practices can’t require SSNs

we went thru all that decades past....now all my providers use 'birthdate' and something unusual....my NAME....

May 13, 2022, 02:55 PM

airbubba

quote:
Originally posted by Fed161:
quote:
Originally posted by SIGnified:
The Chinese communist party hoovered up all our fucking information out of the office of personal management OPM about a decade ago. 40MM classifications.

What did we get for losing the holy of holy‘s information re: ourselves?
Three years of credit score checking.

I got free credit monitoring for life from MyIDCare. (I was part of the Chinese OPM hack.) Not sure why you would have only gotten it for three years.

me too, i still get it for free.

May 14, 2022, 10:33 AM

Calif Phil

40 years ago, used to engrave my SSN on my tools, still have a few in my toolbox at home, with the engraving.

Now days, I am very protective of giving it to anyone.

May 14, 2022, 02:08 PM

Vanwall

I saw my old dog tags hanging in the chain recently. My first thought was to put one on my key chain. The I remembered that my service number was my SS number.

May 16, 2022, 04:59 PM

wrightd

quote:
Originally posted by TMats:
As protective as I can be. I’ve never given my SSN to a medical office, MD or DDS, although they always ask for it. Just recently I had an appointment with a specialist affiliated with the same medical group my PCP is with. They wanted me to check-in online ahead of time, but the program wouldn’t let me do that without giving them my SSN. I’ll be damned if I’m giving that critical piece of PII to some corporate medical group with multiple offices, affiliated with a regional hospital, with God-knows how many administrative employees. So I don’t pre check-in. It takes a minute at the front desk and they don’t ask for my SSN. I’m not naive, I know it’s out there, but why make it easy for someone.

This.

May 17, 2022, 01:41 PM

Inusuit

I am reluctant to give mine to anyone. Last four digits, not so much.

I recently cataloged a firearms collection for a county museum. Several very nice guns were electro penciled with the owner's SSN. It was a thing back in the 1950s and 60s. Police departments recommended it. I hate the guy who defaced an original Spencer carbine with his number.

May 17, 2022, 02:30 PM

Flash-LB

quote:
Originally posted by 220-9er:
This gives a good summary of who can require your SS number.

Others can ask, you can say no.

https://www.identityhawk.com/W...ial-Security-Number/

The title of the article is pretty misleading:

Who Can Lawfully Request My Social Security Number?

The fact is that anybody at all can lawfully request my social security number. Only a few can demand it.

May 17, 2022, 02:51 PM

Jamess1

Before the IRS came out and make you pay to get a PTIN, you would use your SSN to identify you as the preparer. So thousands of returns over the years have my SSN on them. I even had a stamp made so I didn't need to keep writing it.

If there is triple double authentication for me to sign on a to crappy website, the account/loan opening process should be able to be made more secured.