2 billion Americans’ SSN numbers hacked

[underwaterrhymes]

I guess they were hacked back in April, but the hackers just posted everything on the dark web. This LA Times article goes into detail on how to protect yourself.

www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-08-13/hacker-claims-theft-of-every-american-social-security-number

[mrsukyankee]

Thanks for sharing - I've shared it on FB so that some of my friends and family will see it.

[pixy0stix]

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I don't know why, but I haven't thought to freeze my kid's credit report. I should probably get on that.

[livinitup]

Aug 15, 2024 9:09:53 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

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I don't know why, but I haven't thought to freeze my kid's credit report. I should probably get on that.

I tried but could not. I don’t know what I did wrong but I gave up. Apparently, too soon.

[anodyne]

If you have a maiden name, check that too. I thought I was in the clear but a friend mentioned it and I was all over it under my maiden name.

[Michelle]

Fantastic.

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Just in time for the college financing adventure to begin.

[Michelle]

Aug 15, 2024 9:09:53 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

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Do we have a norm on this board for when our kids turn into adults? Do you recommend if we are referencing something about them that we just say, "my family member" and then it's non-triggering, because at that point what they are dealing with are adult activities but the words kid, child, daughter, son, etc. are avoided? 

I hope you don't mind me asking here... i didn't want to start a new thread...

[pixy0stix]

Aug 15, 2024 10:19:21 GMT -5 Michelle said:

Aug 15, 2024 9:09:53 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

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Do we have a norm on this board for when our kids turn into adults? Do you recommend if we are referencing something about them that we just say, "my family member" and then it's non-triggering, because at that point what they are dealing with are adult activities but the words kid, child, daughter, son, etc. are avoided? 

I hope you don't mind me asking here... i didn't want to start a new thread...

It's been kind of a grey area for college kids, but I think most still @. Certainly when they're graduated from undergrad then they're adults.

[Patsy Baloney]

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Man, freezing credit for minors is so burdensome. But, we really need to do it and re-freeze ours.

Anymore, I find myself just kind of being like, “Yeah ok,” whenever a security breach report comes to me. Sometimes I feel like we’re doing all we can, but I like the advice to make sure accounts are managed. I never really thought about the fact that if I’m not setting up an account to be managed/accessed by me, someone else might be able to.

[kath16]

anyone have advice for what to do if we are in the process of applying for a mortgage? i can't freeze my credit but i don't want something to happen between now and settlement either.

awesome.

[Patsy Baloney]

Aug 15, 2024 11:31:21 GMT -5 kath16 said:

anyone have advice for what to do if we are in the process of applying for a mortgage? i can't freeze my credit but i don't want something to happen between now and settlement either.

awesome.

Freezes can be lifted temporarily with PIN numbers, so while annoying, it’s not impossible to have a freeze in place while going through that process.

A lot of credit cards have monitoring now - I’m able to see my info/score through those accounts. I think the advice of 2-factor authentication and actively checking in on your accounts is great, too.

[sillygoosegirl]

Aug 15, 2024 10:05:48 GMT -5 anodyne said:

If you have a maiden name, check that too. I thought I was in the clear but a friend mentioned it and I was all over it under my maiden name.

Like check under my maiden name with the credit bureaus? And freeze that too? I would have assumed it was all tied together with my social security number, but maybe that's naive of me...

[ellipses84]

Ugh, I’ve been a victim of identity theft twice, going all the way back to college when our SSN was printed on our student IDs we had to show it to random people all the time. It also was on student loan paperwork mailed to my parent’s house and they had mail stolen before they bought a locking mailbox. My info is all over the dark web 😞

[anodyne]

Aug 15, 2024 11:51:21 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

Aug 15, 2024 10:05:48 GMT -5 anodyne said:

If you have a maiden name, check that too. I thought I was in the clear but a friend mentioned it and I was all over it under my maiden name.

Like check under my maiden name with the credit bureaus? And freeze that too? I would have assumed it was all tied together with my social security number, but maybe that's naive of me...

In the article there is a link to check if you were involved in this specific breach.  I entered my married name and got no results but got results under my maiden name.

npd.pentester.com/

[simpsongal]

I also got a hit with my maiden name and childhood address

[TR]

I got a hit on my maiden name, but not my married name. I wonder how that works lol

Also found H’s name.

ETA: we already keep our credit frozen as a general rule, so we should be ok

[picksthemusic]

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DH and I were exposed. The kids are good, thankfully.

I locked my credit - not sure if DH knows how to do it for his, but there are links on how to do it on the website anodyne posted.

[fryjack2]

Mine isn’t on there under any name but H’s is. With all his addresses in this state minus the last two he has lived at.

We know his identity was stolen because of numerous fraudulent happenings and detectives in Tennessee (not our state) calling him to let him know they arrested someone who had his info (and many other people’s) in his position. So awesome.

We have had our credit locked and have a service that routinely scans for suspicious activity for the last few years. Hasn’t dropped people from trying to pretend to be him. Every few months we get an influx of emails about loan apps that he did not apply for

Actually, I just put in my maiden name again and got the breached message. Ughh. But glad already locked credit.

[aurora]

It seems like there's always something, and it's hard to know what are the best steps to protect ourselves. For example, signing up for credit/identity monitoring through my credit card sends my info to yet another affiliated org that actually does the monitoring -- another place where hatchers could steal it from. It's a luck/numbers game that we simply can't opt out of.

[ssmjlm]

My name was already part of the OPM hack years ago. DH has had his credit frozen for a while now. I probably need to do mine. We already have monitoring through our capital one bank accounts.

My maiden name came up, but the other info was wrong. The DOB for neither of us was correct.

@@@-minor credit freezing has to be done via mail or something. I remember trying to look into it and it was too much work IMO.

[formerlyak]

My parents, brother, DH and I all come up. I already have credit freezes from when someone opened bank accounts in my name. Brother and dad are no longer alive. DH's comes up with an incorrectly spelled street name from many years ago. My mom comes up and is freaking out. I found this resource, complete with phone numbers to call for help with a security freeze for all three credit bureaus for seniors in case anyone else has older family members who want to do freezes and hate computers.

dhhs.ne.gov/Medicaid%20SUA/CFPB%20Identity%20Theft%20Protection%20Guide.pdf

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The kids did not come up

[picksthemusic]

Thanks to whomever (pixy0stix ) for editing my post. Sorry!

[rubytue]

I’m going to be the engineer here and, how can it be 2.9 billion when there are ~330 people in the US and 8 billion world wide. 1/4 of the world population has a US SSN?

edit, answered my own question. It’s multiple records per person. Like 4 came up for me in one state, both my parents two addresses. 

edit again - looks like a grand total of 10 records across two states for my maiden name. None for my married name. Well.. two more maiden name in my current state, which I moved to long after I was married. 🤷‍♀️

so yeah… at 12 per person.. that gets up to 2 billion quickly 

last edit - no clue why I tagged pixy in this. It wasn’t meant as a call or anything. iPad accidental tap

[underwaterrhymes]

Aug 15, 2024 15:44:02 GMT -5 rubytue said:

pixy0stix,I’m going to be the engineer here and, how can it be 2.9 billion when there are ~330 people in the US and 8 billion world wide. 1/4 of the world population has a US SSN?

I’m going to guess that it includes deceased people as well.

[neverfstop]

Aug 15, 2024 15:44:02 GMT -5 rubytue said:

pixy0stix ,I’m going to be the engineer here and, how can it be 2.9 billion when there are ~330 people in the US and 8 billion world wide. 1/4 of the world population has a US SSN?

edit, answered my own question. It’s multiple records per person. Like 4 came up for me in one state, both my parents two addresses. 

This was driving me, totally batty, but I’m not at a computer today and haven’t read the original article, I kept thinking somebody would raise the issue That there are not 2 billion Americans 😜

[rubytue]

Aug 15, 2024 15:50:47 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Aug 15, 2024 15:44:02 GMT -5 rubytue said:

pixy0stix ,I’m going to be the engineer here and, how can it be 2.9 billion when there are ~330 people in the US and 8 billion world wide. 1/4 of the world population has a US SSN?

edit, answered my own question. It’s multiple records per person. Like 4 came up for me in one state, both my parents two addresses. 

This was driving me, totally batty, but I’m not at a computer today and haven’t read the original article, I kept thinking somebody would raise the issue That there are not 2 billion Americans 😜

Multiple records. See my edit. And apologies to pixy0stix, who was not meant to be tagged. 

[pixy0stix]

rubytue - The identification numbers are from the US, Canada, and UK, so that also bumps the number to 2.9M with the other countries.

See, it's helpful you tagged me.

[pixy0stix]

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Neither DS nor myself were involved. My H has 6 records pop up.

[Michelle]

Damn.

I'm on there with my addresses going back to 2001. This must be why my credit card company replaced my card twice with no warning.

H is there with all his addresses going back to the early 2000s except where we currently live. That is weird.

My ILs are too. sigh.

[mcsangel2]

Both my H and I are on there, but only with names and addresses from 2001 and earlier.