What You Can Do To Protect Your Personal Information
Reading Time: 3 MinutesLast Updated: August 21, 2024
Note: The Social Security Administration is providing the below information as a public service following reports of a data breach that is unrelated to SSA’s internal systems and data, neither of which has been compromised.
With various reports of data breaches involving Social Security numbers in the media, we’d like to remind you about the importance of protecting your personal information. Someone illegally using your Social Security number (SSN) and possibly assuming your identity can cause many problems.
What to do if you suspect your Social Security number has been stolen
Identity thieves can use your SSN and other personal information to apply for loans and credit cards and open cellphone and utility accounts in your name. If you believe your information has been stolen and you may be a victim of identity theft, you can:
- Visit IdentityTheft.gov to make a report and get a recovery plan. IdentityTheft.gov is a one-stop resource managed by the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency. Or you can call 1-877-IDTHEFT (1-877-438-4338).
- File a police report and keep a copy for your records in case problems arise in the future.
- File an online report with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov. Its mission is to receive, develop, and refer cybercrime complaints to law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
- Notify 1 of the 3 major credit bureaus and consider adding a credit freeze, fraud alert, or both to your credit report. The company you call is required to contact the others.
- Equifax at 1-800-525-6285.
- Experian at 1-888-397-3742.
- TransUnion at 1-800-680-7289.
- Regularly check your credit report for anything unusual. Free credit reports are available online at AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Contact the IRS to prevent someone else from using your Social Security number to file a tax return to receive your refund. Visit Identity Theft Central or call 1-800-908-4490.
To learn more, read our blog, Protect Yourself from Identity Thieves, and our Identity Theft and Your Social Security Number publication.
What else can you do to protect yourself
Create or sign in to your personal my Social Security account to check for any suspicious activity. If you have not yet applied for benefits:
- You should not find any benefit payment amounts, and you should be able to access your Social Security Statement and view future benefit estimates.
- Review your Statement to verify the accuracy of the earnings posted to your record to make sure no one else is using your Social Security number to work.
If you receive benefits, you can add blocks to your personal my Social Security account:
- The eServices block prevents anyone, including you, from viewing or changing your personal information online.
- The Direct Deposit Fraud Prevention block prevents anyone, including you, from enrolling in direct deposit or changing your address or direct deposit information through my Social Security or a financial institution (via auto-enrollment).
You’ll need to contact us to make changes or remove the blocks.
Other ways to safeguard your information
- Don’t carry your Social Security card with you. Keep it at home in a safe place. Be careful about who you give your number to.
- Change your passwords regularly and use a unique password for each account to prevent hackers from accessing multiple accounts if one password is stolen.
- Add an extra layer of security to your online accounts by using multi-factor authentication, which is a sign-in process that requires a password plus additional information.
- Be wary of scammers pretending to be Social Security employees. If you get a suspicious call, text, or email about a problem with your Social Security number or account, ignore it, hang up, and don’t respond! To report the scam and to learn more, visit Protect Yourself From Scams.
You’ll find more tips at our Fraud Prevention and Reporting page.
Please share this important information with your friends and family and post it on social media.
Did you find this Information helpful?
Tags: data privacy, fraud, scams, Social Security card
See CommentsAbout the Author
Dawn Bystry, Associate Commissioner, Office of Strategic and Digital Communications
Deputy Associate Commissioner, Office of Strategic and Digital Communications
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Creativity
Our family no longer carries our SSA Cards on our person. Thanks for the tip and as soon as I read the tip it made sense. Been many, many years of carrying SSA Card on my person and the change will do me good. Thanks for the tip and all the efforts at the SSA. Note: Now give me a 200.00 raise as soon as possible, I patiently await for as long as it takes. I have been a loyal and long-term customer of SSA since 1975 and will continue until I am 150 years old, I kid you not. Good day to all who read down this far!!!!! I am not a robot.
Rick C.
We have had ALL credit bureaus locked, since the LAST federal breach of security, years ago – and they STAY locked. They are only unlocked (specifically) when I need to have it done, for my own reasons, and then immediately re-locked.
Much, much more – but that is mainly common sense. Use your brain, be very pessimistic with ALL forms of communications, be it texting, phone calls, mail or email. Trust nothing at ‘face value’, period.
Don’t fall for intimidation, threats, etc., no matter the supposed source..
Judy B.
This is rich coming from the same social security department that has more than enough proof of fraud and a federal incarceration of an individual who wasn’t myself and still not only ceased my benefits but then changed them to a later date and continues to insist I had had an improvement when my primary conditions are the exactly the same as they were during my last 3 approvals. Their own rules say that was to be approved because they can’t ensure if there has been an improvement since the conditions are exactly the same. Also, both vocational experts couldn’t find a job that I could do with my conditions and that’s not a reason to deny if the job doesn’t exist! Finally, the most important thing was that the original cessation happened because of tax fraud and the criminal record of a federal incarceration, when I had no earnings at all. The agent diaried my case for a review when she expected my TWP to end however, I was already out of work long before that. She still chose to cease my benefits on the non medical review. To cover their tracks, they removed most of the information regarding the tax fraud but there was a partial record left showing a person working in field I had no experience in and 6 hours one way, away from where I live.
Social security has chosen to backtrack every step of the way here And cost myself and my family everything. It’s been 8 years and they were required to pay for the years between the original cessation datE to the newer one as soon as they were aware of it. Yet they didn’t and are arguing about who’s responsible to pay it. Enough of the nonsense because they violated my due process rights and cost me the property I owned. My life isn’t a joke and I paid into this system too. I never took anything I wasn’t “entitled” to. And my benefits verification letters all say that I’m entitled not eligible for the benefit
Frances
Thanks for the info. However, it hardly helps when you and every entity out there wants all our Personal information, yet can’t protect any of it. It is only inevitable that a data breach will occur with the SSA.
V
There is a free place you can check to see if you are part of the breach. Pentester has a site
https://npd.pentester.com/
Veronica A.
You can use the NPD Breach Check from pentester.com at https://npd.pentester.com/
It’s free.
Patty S.
Has there been a data breach? I’m seeing posts on social media asking us to follow a link to find out if our data has been compromised.
So by not contacting us and confirming if our data has been compromised you’re encouraging people to seek answers from probably shady sources.
Please tell us!
David C.
That is exactly why I am here! I’m seeing these “news” articles online but figured SSA would have notified us or had some kind of alert if this were the case.
Has there been a data breach and can SSA tell us if we need to do anything further to protect our data?
Julie
If you are placing a fraud alert, you only need to contact one credit bureau. If you are placing a credit freeze, you need to contact each credit bureau individually.
Ed M.
It was you, not us, who failed to keep our data secure. You have no real solutions to the problem you caused except to gaslight us into thinking somehow it was our fault — and herd us to for-profit companies that will sell our data anyway. Thanks for nothing.
P.A.
Excellent post!
faith s.
thank you for the current information.