Aliens Behind Identity Theft Surge,
Rip Off Social Security Numbers

ecause the U.S. government won't enforce laws against illegal immigration or protect its own citizens from identity theft, illegal aliens with stolen Social Security numbers are ruining the credit worthiness and retirement benefits of American citizens all across the country.

"People need to wake up to this problem," said Richard Hamp, an assistant U.S. attorney general for the state of Utah. He told MSNBC.com, "They are destroying people's credit, Social Security benefits, and everything else. This problem has been ignored by the federal government, and it's enormous."

Illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. to steal jobs are also stealing Social Security numbers. And to keep big business supplied with the cheap labor that fattens profits, the government agencies charged with protecting citizens won't intervene to stop the thefts.

MSNBC.com reported that the problem is compounded by how often the ripped-off numbers are used. James Lee, chief marketing officer for the private data collection service ChoicePoint, said the average victim of identity theft by aliens has his Social Security number used by others about 30 times.

"The numbers get passed around a family, and around neighborhoods," Lee told MSNBC.com

No one will aid the average American victim because everyone but the victim benefits from it. The illegal alien gets a job, while the Social Security number (SSN) provides the gateway to loans and credit cards. The IRS and the Social Security system collect extra revenue, lenders sell more loans, and the employer get a new, cheap worker.

Under current laws set up by an immigration-friendly Congress, no one along the regulatory chain who discovers that more than one person is using the same SSN is required to notify the legitimate owner.

Melody Millet, wife of a victim of identity theft by an illegal alien, said fixing the problem would upset the apple cart that government and big corporations have assembled as the nation's immigration policy.

"The government is forcing people to share identities because they want to provide cheap labor to corporate America," she told Bob Sullivan, reporter for MSNBC.com

The SSN of Millet's husband, Steve, was used illegally for more than 10 years before the family discovered it. Millet said the thief obtained a dozen credit cards, bought a car and a house while using the stolen number. At the same time, the thief was paying taxes into Social Security under his own name. "All those agencies had a record of the abused SSN; none bothered to tell Steve Millet," reported MSNBC.

The victim usually only discover the theft when the alien thief fails to make a payment on a loan borrowed under the stolen number. Then the creditor tries to track down anyone with the same SSN to get payment.

Experts admit that hundreds of thousands of people are at risk - maybe millions.

"With every paycheck, U.S. workers pay FICA taxes, destined for Social Security funds. But each year, millions of payments are made to the agency with mismatched names and numbers. The Social Security Administration has no idea who deserves credit for the taxes paid by those wage earnings - so no one gets it. The amount of uncredited Social Security wages is now an enormous $420 billion, an amount that sits in what's called the Earnings Suspense File, an accounting limbo," Sullivan said.

He reported that during 2002, 9 million people paid taxes with mismatched names and SSN's. About 80 percent of those mismatches are the result of illegal alien criminal activity.

James Huse Jr., former inspector general of th Social Security Administration said it is unlikely the federal government will ever inform the rightful owners of SSN's when a number is used by illegals.

"The politics of immigration get involved in this," he told Sullivan.

A current spokesman said the agency can't help citizens because doing so is against the law, to protect their privacy.

"That information is considered to be tax return information, and it's governed under the Internal Revenue Code," said Mark Lassiter, an agency spokesman. "There are strict limitations on disclosure. Can someone see if anyone else has reported earnings under their Social Security number? The answer would be no."

Congress, of course, has the power to change the law. But as long as corporations benefit from the corrupt system, it is not likely that politicians will risk angering their donors just to do what's right for citizens.