Social Safety numbers had been initially issued by the US federal authorities as a solution to administer retirement and incapacity advantages. Since then issues have modified dramatically, and Social Safety numbers at the moment are used as common identifiers inside the US for residents, worldwide college students and people who find themselves cleared to work throughout the nation.
At present, in the event you’re getting a bank card, shopping for a house and even receiving a paycheck, you may want to offer your Social Safety quantity. It is in all probability one of the necessary piece of identification you may have, although Social Safety Numbers have been more and more uncovered in knowledge breaches. Most lately, hackers infiltrated background verify firm Nationwide Public Information, stealing the non-public info of two.9 billion folks, which can embrace the Social Safety numbers of each particular person within the US, in line with the Los Angeles Instances.
As a result of almost each US citizen and everlasting resident has a Social Safety quantity, the numbers at the moment are the go-to authentication methodology for cell service operators, utility corporations and even retail corporations. That makes them a main goal for identification theft. Now that it is tax season, the IRS is telling taxpayers to select their tax preparers fastidiously to guard their delicate info.
How have you learnt when you need to — and should not — share your Social Safety quantity? We consulted the consultants.
For extra, here is the right way to order a brand new Social Safety card and do not miss our 2025 tax cheat sheet.
When is it OK to share my Social Safety quantity?
Although it is necessary to guard your Social Safety quantity, there are official causes for sharing these 9 digits.
“Any firm that you just’re making use of to for a mortgage or line of credit score wants your quantity,” Paige Hanson, cyber security training chief at NortonLifeLock, mentioned in an interview.
That features banks and credit score reporting businesses, Hanson mentioned, but it surely may additionally imply a cell service supplier, since a telephone contract is sort of a line of credit score.
Your Social Safety quantity can be going to be necessary for something that triggers tax reporting, together with your employer reporting your wages to the IRS, mentioned Alan Butler, government director of the Digital Privateness Data Heart, a nonprofit centered on defending privateness and identification rights.
You will have to share it in case you have an funding adviser or are partaking in a money transaction of $10,000 or extra — like shopping for a automotive or home.
Authorities businesses that present advantages also can request your quantity, together with the US Division of Labor and state businesses that administer Medicaid. These requests ought to include a disclosure type that explains whether or not the quantity is required or elective, confirms the company’s authority to ask for it and explains what it will be used for.
When ought to I not share my Social Safety quantity?
There are various extra cases while you should not provide up your Social Safety quantity. With the proliferation of phishing schemes, by no means give out your info in an e-mail or over the telephone.
“When you’re not initiating the decision, you need to by no means share your private info,” NortonLifeLock’s Hanson mentioned. “Even when it appears prefer it’s coming from a legit firm you do enterprise with.”
Confirming the final 4 digits of your Social is decrease danger, Hanson mentioned, because it’s knowledge an organization already has.
Not everybody asking in your quantity has dangerous intentions: “Some companies simply need your code simply because it is a quicker solution to lookup your account,” Hanson added.
However that is not a ok purpose for them to have it.
Others might want it in the event that they’re having you signal a contract, like a health club membership. “It is a neater solution to go to a collections company in the event that they must,” Hanson mentioned. “However there are different methods.”
Whereas employers can ask in your Social, “it completely can’t be required to get a job,” Hanson mentioned. So it should not be on any job utility.
If they will not budge and you are not snug giving them your private info, then do not. “Each time one other entity shops your Social, it is yet one more probability for identification theft,” mentioned Butler.
How can I defend my Social Safety quantity?
If an organization asks in your Social Safety quantity, discover out if there’s an alternate type of identification you need to use.
By the point you are an grownup, your Social Safety quantity has been entered into so many databases it is unimaginable to maintain it 100% safe. However there are steps customers can take to raised defend their account numbers.
Do not carry your Social Safety card in your pockets or purse. Hold it in a protected place at dwelling. And shred any paperwork or items of mail that embrace your quantity, somewhat than simply throwing them out. Additionally, When you’re requested in your SSN, discover out why.
“You must really feel empowered to ask, ‘Why do you want this? The place are you storing this?'” Hanson mentioned. “‘Is there one other piece of knowledge I can use as a substitute?'”
Hanson lately took her daughter for a physician’s go to, and the shape on the counter requested each of their SSNs.
“There was actually no want for them,” Hanson mentioned. “So I left it clean on the shape and so they did not say something.”
One other solution to defend your Social Safety quantity is by “freezing” your credit score experiences with Transunion, Equifax and Experian.
If somebody tries to make use of your quantity to open a bank card or get a mortgage, the request in your credit score report shall be declined. You may freeze your report indefinitely or set a selected “thaw” date.
You must also often verify your experiences for any unusual exercise — a free copy of all three is offered yearly from AnnualCreditReport.com — and create an account on the Social Safety web site to see if anybody is accessing advantages utilizing your quantity.
What if my Social Safety quantity has been compromised?
When you assume you’ve got been the sufferer of identification theft utilizing your Social Safety quantity, report the incident to the Federal Commerce Fee, your native police division and any companies which will have been given your quantity fraudulently.
When you assume your quantity has been used illicitly to get a job or entry your tax return, you can even contact the Social Safety Administration at 800-772-1213 or go to the IRS’ identification theft web site.
Although it is doable to get a brand new Social Safety quantity, it seemingly will not remedy all of your issues, in line with the FTC.
“Generally getting a brand new quantity can depart you worse off,” Steve Toporoff with the FTC’s Division of Privateness and Id Safety mentioned in a press release, “as a result of it’s essential to contact all the federal government businesses, monetary establishments, credit score bureaus, well being insurers and different locations the place the outdated Social Safety quantity is perhaps used.”