During an identity theft seminar, a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist with Lionheart Assurance Solutions, LP will ask participants “Are you carrying your original Social Security Card in your wallet?” Inevitably hands will always rise. These experts who are assisting employees, customers and vendors will then communicate caution regarding carrying this form of identification in your wallet or purse on a regular basis. Original social security cards should be secured in a safe place at home or office, or possibly in a safe deposit box at your local bank branch. The card should only be carried if you know verification is required in connection with some type of transaction, but should then be returned immediately to its safe location.
Due to the downturn in the economy, thieves are now using employment scams to gain social security numbers over the internet and phone, taking advantage of people desperate to gain employment. We all need to work to make sure we become more identity savvy. When anyone asks for your social security number, learn to respond with, “Why do you need it? How are you going to secure it?” and “How are you going to dispose of it?” Reputable companies will understand their responsibility to complete all three.
It is estimated that 10 million social security numbers are bought and sold every 6 weeks in the identity theft crime world. If your social security number is ever used for employment by another person and is sold into a crime ring, it will be sold an average of 8 times. This means that your social security number will then be involved in at least 8 different fraudulent transactions, multiplying your problems many times over. Every holder of a social security card number, which we usually get before we leave the hospital as a new born, is vulnerable to theft, loss and scams. Just because a person is too young to work, or too old for that matter, doesn’t mean that their information cannot be stolen and used for fraudulent purposes.
Lionheart Assurance Solutions, LP recommends that each person make a photocopy of everything in their wallet and place that copy in a secure location. Should you lose your wallet or have it stolen, you will immediately have a record of all your belongings and a record of all your details regarding the loss to give to law enforcement officials, financial institutions, credit card entities, as well as federal and state identification issuing organizations. For more information, visit www.LionheartAssuranceSolutions.com today.