Probe Finds Agency (Soc. Sec. Admin.) Vulnerable to ID Theft

[DUreader]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2891358,00.html


WASHINGTON (AP) - The Social Security
Administration's policies for issuing identification
cards and numbers to infants, foreign students
and citizens who report lost or stolen cards leave
the agency vulnerable to identity thieves.

Congressional investigators at the General
Accounting Office, working undercover, were able
to use false documents to obtain fraudulent
driver's licenses and get Social Security numbers
for fake children.

The investigators were to present their findings to
a House subcommittee on Thursday.

Social Security Administration officials want to
press lawmakers at the hearing for legislation to
keep Social Security numbers out of public
records provided by state and local governments.
The agency also wants to ban the sale of the
numbers and limit their use in the private sector.