Protecting SSN

[amyandjorge 76]

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this, my husband is now filling out job applications with his new SSN. A lot of the potential employers are small to medium sized businesses. Two times now, my husband gets really close to getting the job, then they found out he really is here legally and another hispanic guy suddenly shows up to take the job.

How can we make sure employers are not using his number?!?!? I know for a fact that illegal workers 'borrow' ssn, and if they get his then its like jackpot because he has a generic hispanic name and born in latin america.

Should we set up fraud alert on his ssn? Will this negatively affect his credit? There has been no real evidence of fraud yet, but I really feel like we need to protect his number from sketchy employers! Especially since he is still looking for a job. And six months from now we might not remember everywhere he has applied etc.

Thanks for the advice in advance

[Iyawo Ijebu 157]

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this, my husband is now filling out job applications with his new SSN. A lot of the potential employers are small to medium sized businesses. Two times now, my husband gets really close to getting the job, then they found out he really is here legally and another hispanic guy suddenly shows up to take the job.

How can we make sure employers are not using his number?!?!? I know for a fact that illegal workers 'borrow' ssn, and if they get his then its like jackpot because he has a generic hispanic name and born in latin america.

Should we set up fraud alert on his ssn? Will this negatively affect his credit? There has been no real evidence of fraud yet, but I really feel like we need to protect his number from sketchy employers! Especially since he is still looking for a job. And six months from now we might not remember everywhere he has applied etc.

Thanks for the advice in advance

Just out of curiousity, how are you finding this out?

[Harsh_77 718]

You don’t need to provide SSN to the employer while applying for the job.

You can always ask if it is required and most of them would say not at the moment, give us your SSN when you accept the offer, some might say they only need last 4 digits.

Also you can always have some service that monitors your credit but that would not catch if someone is using your SSN for employment, it would only catch something if someone applied for credit card using the SSN.

Having a monitoring service does not impact your credit rating.

[amyandjorge 76]

Just out of curiousity, how are you finding this out?

Because I go with him everywhere, and he keeps getting called back to interview. Im not saying the guys they bring in are not legal workers, but the second time we go to talk to the hiring person, they have new guys that dont speak english. We have been really persistant trying to get him started somewhere.

And only seen this twice

Edited May 9, 2012 by amyandjorge

[grrrrreat 109]

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this, my husband is now filling out job applications with his new SSN. A lot of the potential employers are small to medium sized businesses. Two times now, my husband gets really close to getting the job, then they found out he really is here legally and another hispanic guy suddenly shows up to take the job.

How can we make sure employers are not using his number?!?!? I know for a fact that illegal workers 'borrow' ssn, and if they get his then its like jackpot because he has a generic hispanic name and born in latin america.

Should we set up fraud alert on his ssn? Will this negatively affect his credit? There has been no real evidence of fraud yet, but I really feel like we need to protect his number from sketchy employers! Especially since he is still looking for a job. And six months from now we might not remember everywhere he has applied etc.

Thanks for the advice in advance

If people work on his SSN, it won't affect his credit. It might affect his credit if they were to use his SSN to open credit applications, so by all means you should monitor his credit (you can get free annual credit reports), and you can set up a fraud alert with the credit reporting agencies.

If you have proof that someone his using his SSN to work, you should definitely report it to law enforcement.

[amyandjorge 76]

Thanks Harsh,

Yesterday he group interviewed for this job with some white guys. The hiring director was really excited about Jorge and had us come back in the afternoon and sent him to labcorp for the drug test. We explained his ssn is new and his background check might look odd and short. Today he called and asked Jorge to come in and they would copy his id, ssn, etc. So we go back, this time the group being interviewed is all spanish speaking and they only copied his SSN card. Trying not to get paranoid

[Harsh_77 718]

Thanks Harsh,

Yesterday he group interviewed for this job with some white guys. The hiring director was really excited about Jorge and had us come back in the afternoon and sent him to labcorp for the drug test. We explained his ssn is new and his background check might look odd and short. Today he called and asked Jorge to come in and they would copy his id, ssn, etc. So we go back, this time the group being interviewed is all spanish speaking and they only copied his SSN card. Trying not to get paranoid

When they check the background using the SSN as one of the component plus answers from rest of the question, all they are looking for is if he has any criminal history.

If one does not have a criminal history then all the reports look alike does not matter when they got SSN.

You only need to provide the SSN card when you are accepting the offer and filing out the W4 that is the only time HR would need a SSN, before that SSN is never required for anything.

On most of the job application you can let them know you are not comfortable giving out SSN if it is not required and most would answer you to either leave it blank or only give last 4 digits.

[Iyawo Ijebu 157]

When they check the background using the SSN as one of the component plus answers from rest of the question, all they are looking for is if he has any criminal history.

If one does not have a criminal history then all the reports look alike does not matter when they got SSN.

You only need to provide the SSN card when you are accepting the offer and filing out the W4 that is the only time HR would need a SSN, before that SSN is never required for anything.

On most of the job application you can let them know you are not comfortable giving out SSN if it is not required and most would answer you to either leave it blank or only give last 4 digits.

I guess it depends on the level of job that is being applied for. In my field they typicall ywant your SSN on the webapp, no need to waste time on an unhirable person. I do agree with you that it is optional on your part to provide it but I suspect that further consideration will not be forthcoming.

Best of luck to OP and her new American.

[amyandjorge 76]

ugh, today they asked to copy ALL forms of ID he may have (even mentioned our marriage certificate!) to make copies because they cannot successfully complete a background check for my husband. Other than an OH DL, permanent residency card, and a passport, what other ID could they possibly need?! How long does it take before he can pass a background check? We filed taxes jointly this year (we had to mail in with copy of his SSN), but it worked. He got his number in March, POE first of February.

The good news is, he is most likely going to get the job (no promises though). This job isn't too high up there, it's for a maintenance tech at an apt complex, but I guess they have to be sure they don't have criminals walking into apts.

[EminTX 131]

Your marriage certificate? Hhhmmmm......

I agree to be suspicious. I had never considered such things. Good luck with this craziness.

[DandT14 272]

Something doesn't sound right here at all...

What kinds of jobs is he applying for? At my work, we use fingerprints for criminal background checks. We have the capability to check background with ID and SSN, but we don't do it for employees, only customers (long story).

We are absolutely not allowed to take copies of anyone's social security card or ID until AFTER a job offer has been made. We make the offer contingent on the person passing all required checks. (Drug test, health screen, background.)

Also, when you give your employer your SSN for the purposes of verifying your legal right to work in the US, it's in conjunction with an I-9. The I-9 is very specific about what types of documents can be used to verify the information. It's illegal for them to ask for any more than is required.

If you want to know if someone is working on your husband's SSN, call the social security office. If the employer is reporting it as required, social security should have that information. The only problem is that the information can be a bit delayed, so it might take a couple quarters to show up.

[amyandjorge 76]

They called him today, they said he can start working as soon as he brings in a paper from the social security office that says they have issued him the number (!). It seems like if they are such legit employers in making all these requirements than they would know what the necessary (and legally permitted) documents for identification are... I really do not see the validity in bringing in supporting documentation when he already showed them everything, this company is really testing.

Thank you SterlingDandT, now I know we can at least follow up with the social security office.

[DandT14 272]

In all fairness, a lot of employers screw that one up. It can get them sued, but they copy everything they can get their hands on and stick it in the file. There are 3 lists of documents. If you give them any 1 document from List A, that's all they can ask for. Otherwise, you have to give them 1 from list B AND one from List C. That's what most US citizens do, they give their social security card and their driver's license.

However, there are lots of other documents that can be used. If you want to check it out, it's on the USCIS website. The form is called I-9. Here's a link to the "List A" documents, if you're interested:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=30341921c6898210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=30341921c6898210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

Hope that helps, and good luck.

FYI, he still has to disclose his social security number, but he's not required to provide a copy of his social security card as proof of eligibility to work. Also, if you want to call social security about him, HE has to call. They won't talk to you unless he gets on the phone and says it's ok to tell you stuff.

[amyandjorge 76]

ok thanks again for the info.

lol and yes, I have tried to call social security for him, but thankfully they have Spanish speaking reps.

I believe the confusion with this particular employer is not so much his elibility to work, but not getting a satisfactory background check (they strictly exclude certain misdemeanors and all felonies). For that reason they need to have his identity (?) fully documented. He actually did call social security today, and they said that in lieu of him getting the piece of paper certifying his name and number, the potential boss could call with him and they could verify that way. Unfortunately, it is a large company and apparently the office that actually hires and signs checks is in another state. They also said that since he hasn't 'used' his # yet it doesn't show up in the system (we have a credit union account as opposed to bank).

Ugh and I was hoping that they were just being extra cautious by asking for all those IDs, not actually breaking laws

[DandT14 272]

Well at least if his number hasn't been used, you know no one else is using it. I realize that's not a lot of help, but at least it's something.

Are they doing a credit check? If so, proving that his SSN really belongs to him isn't going to help much. Everything's still going to come back as unverifiable.

I hope this is a really good job, for him to go through so much trouble!