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iluvfupaburgers t1_itlx38j wrote

SS is your ID, you can find anything with it. Major purchases, bank accounts, criminal records, addresses, phone numbers, etc. How I know? I use these programs in banking to screen clients, it can be scary all the info that’s available from us

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Zkenny13 t1_itlyx2y wrote

Not to mention it's pretty easy to open credit cards and loans using it with information you got from social media.

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iluvfupaburgers t1_itlzeh1 wrote

It’s become harder ever since the real-estate bubble exploded in 2008, many regulations have been put in place so banks don’t be giving out these to anyone just to raise their numbers. It’s become harder but not impossible

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Digital-Chupacabra t1_itlyvtz wrote

Just having someones social security number, doesn't magically give you access to ~anything~ everything, it can with some effort give you useful info. See /u/fox-mcleod's answer bellow for more. HOWEVER it is widely used to validate identity (something it was never meant or designed for), so I can use it to open bank accounts, credit cards, etc. In many systems you can use a social security number to gain access to an account.

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fox-mcleod t1_itmfz00 wrote

That’s not 100% true.

Up until 2017(?), the first three digits of a social security number correlated to what state you applied from down to a zip code level. The middle two correlate to a birth year for those first three. Only the last four are unique. But are actually serial in nature so that’s it’s feasible to predict a person’s SSN with enough data.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0904891106

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Digital-Chupacabra t1_itmlfzf wrote

I'm confused, what part isn't true? If you mean the validating identity.

I guess I could have been clearer, While the social security number is meant to id you for purposes of social security, it was never meant to be a national ID number, or act as one, something it very much has. At the time it was loudly proclaimed it would not be such a thing for vague fears of communism.

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fox-mcleod t1_itmlmuq wrote

> Just having someones social security number, doesn't magically give you access to anything.

There’s a ton of information baked into the number itself that you can gain access to merely by getting the number itself such as birth state, month, etc.

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shotsallover t1_itmmg32 wrote

The last four weren't unique. They were numbered serially based on when you applied for your number. So, if you were born early in the year, you likely had a lower number, making it easier to figure out.

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shotsallover t1_itmmx7c wrote

Also, SSNs are not necessarily unique. If you were born in a state/region with a lot of births, it's possible the last four digits could roll over and start again. The SS office starts using letters of your name (the first two letters of your last name are the first ones. Not sure of the rest after that) to validate that the number is attached to the right person.

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BaldBear_13 t1_itm1srr wrote

SSN alone is not very useful unless you have access to a government or some corporate database, but those are kept very tightly locked up, and they can be searched by name as well, so having an SSN just makes it a bit faster to find the right person.

When combined with other info, SSN is the final confirmation that lets you apply for loans in the name of the person, or log into their banking website. And the "other info" is a lot easier to get than SSN: Name and birthday from Facebook or other social media, address and phone number from white pages or many sites that copy that info or hack for it.

This is why you should never put your actual birthday into social media or any website not related to major offline transactions. The only organizations that need to know your true birthday are banks, work, school, landlords and doctors. For everybody else, pick Jan-1 of your birth year, or a year that's before or after; if you want the correct Zodiac sign, change the day.

Likewise, no social/entertainment website needs the full & correct spelling of your name, you only need it when you pay with a credit card, and they will ask for it separately

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