How to keep your social security number secure online

Scammers would love to get their hands on your Social Security number (SSN), which they can combine with other personal details they’ve obtained about you to open credit accounts, collect

unemployment insurance, circumvent your benefits, commit crimes and unleash a whole lot of misery in your name. The most recent concern comes from a class action lawsuit filed against a

private company based in Coral Springs, Florida, that provides background checks. Its name is National Public Data, and the federal lawsuit filed Aug. 1 alleges that the company’s database

of about 2.9 billion records, complete with Social Security numbers, has been breached and is for sale on the dark web for $3.5 million. Before you panic, realize that fewer than 500 million

Social Security numbers have been issued since the start of the program in 1936, and they’re never duplicated. So worries about 2.9 billion separate Social Security numbers in scammers’

hands isn’t real. But worries about identity theft are why the Social Security Administration and privacy and security experts issue stern warnings about keeping not only Social Security

numbers under wraps except when necessary but also the W-2s, 1099s and other documents they may appear on. Similar precautions apply to your driver’s license, insurance and medical IDs, and

other information that in the wrong hands can bleed your finances and wreak havoc. TRUST, VERIFY WHO RECEIVES PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION Some people and organizations have a valid

reason to receive such documents, including a new employer, your accountant, a bank, a landlord or a school. Even then, though, proceed with caution. Resist surrendering the information to

practically everyone else, no matter how innocent their request seems. SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS Be extremely wary of providing your Social Security number to someone who has called you. You

should verify the identity of the person you are speaking with if you didn’t reach out directly. Just don’t do so by calling back a provided phone number or clicking on a text link.

Moreover, unless the answer is obvious — for example, the request is coming from the accountant you’ve been using for years to prepare your tax returns — ask would-be recipients why they

want the information in the first place and how they intend to secure it. Also ask what will happen if you decline to give out the information. “Some businesses continue to use Social

Security numbers as a means of authenticating customers or simply as a practice they just never let go of,” says Kathy Stokes, AARP’s director of fraud prevention programs and also head of

the AARP Fraud Watch Network. “Consider pushing back and asking if there’s an alternative.”