Companies doing part to help prevent identity theft

By Jennifer Goldblatt
Wilmington (Del.) News Journal

•	Hawai'i driver licenses The state no longer requires nine-digit Social Security numbers to be listed on drivers' licenses. If you have a license with your Social Security number on it, you can exchange or renew your license and ask for randomly selected digits instead.

"They want it when you go to the doctor, when you open up a membership at a gym," said Gass, of Newark, Del. "If you open a brokerage account, it's there; all your bank accounts have it, and you open a charge account (with it). In Medicare, they use your Social Security number and then put A or B behind it. It's on everything."

Concerns like Gass' have sparked a national movement to limit the dissemination of Social Security numbers, often the key piece of information that allows a thief to rack up charges in someone else's name and destroy his or her credit record.

"When I think of what's in your wallet, probably the worst thing in there is that Social Security number," said Linda Foley, co-founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego.

For an identity thief, "each information component has value, and the Social Security number is the most valuable element," said David Santoro, a senior manager in the finance and performance management division of Accenture, a global consulting firm.

Without it, a thief has more difficulty obtaining a credit card under someone else's name or getting access to a person's credit record to learn more about him or her, Santoro said.

That has prompted changes by some government agencies and companies. Among them:

• The Internal Revenue Service has stopped putting Social Security numbers on the pre-printed labels mailed to filers. The numbers still are used in filing tax returns.
• The Social Security Administration stopped using the numbers in letters and statements in 2001. In cases in which it is absolutely necessary to include the number, it is printed so it's not visible from the outside.
• The U.S. Treasury stopped printing full Social Security numbers and other personal identification numbers on Social Security checks in January.
• Aetna stopped using the numbers as member I.D. numbers last year. Now, the company assigns random sequences to members for I.D. cards and correspondence. Any member who has an old card can request a new one.

"It is a concern for us, and we recognize that it's a concern for our members," said Timothy J. Constantine, president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware, which insures about 230,000 Delawareans and plans to remove their Social Security numbers from their cards.

Social Security numbers have been on Medicare cards since the program started in the 1960s, and the agency periodically reviews whether to abandon the practice, said Kim Brandt, acting director of program integrity at the federal Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services. The agency plans to continue using the numbers for now, she said.

James Small of Hockessin, Del., learned how many people had his most personal information a little too late. Earlier this year, someone racked up $400,000 in cars and clothes in his name. Though he still doesn't know how his identity was stolen, he understands how easy it must have been.

"We really need to use a PIN number or password or something," Small said. "My Social Security number is just out there and way too available."