What's My Number?
When
the Social Security Act of 1935 was signed into law, the social security number
was developed. The social security number
was designed as a unique nine digit identifier which is assigned to an
individual after completion of an application. It is presently used to track
Social Security benefits, authentication and identification purposes. Once an individual dies the number is not
recycled. But are these statements true?
In March 2015, the Office of the Inspector General* for the Social
Security Administration* identified 6.5 million social security number holders
age 112 or older who did not have death information on the Numident (acronym for "Numerical Identification
System). There are approximately 35 people worldwide who are known to be
112 years old. In the report, a man fraudulently opened two banks accounts
using social security numbers of individuals born in 1886 and 1893 who did not
appear on the Death Master File.
ID Analytics
is a company which develops consumer software solutions for authentication and
identification purposes and a subsidiary of LifeLock.* Lifelock is an identity theft protection
company. ID Analytics has discovered
that:
- More than 100,000 people have 5 or more social security numbers
- 15% of social security numbers are associate with two or more people
- More than 140,000 social security numbers are associated with 5 or more people
- More than 27,000 social security are associated with 10 or more people
- 6.1% of Americans have 2 social security numbers associated with their name
I have been researching my maternal family tree on Ancestry.com in the U.S. Social Security Application Claims Index 1936-2007. I found three results for an ancestor Chalmers Bearden. His name is listed three times differently.
Many of the errors are thought to be secondary to duplication errors and fraud. In genealogy research, the social security number may not be a definitive source of information.
* I am not an employee or representative of these organizations
----- The Tree Gardener
