YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER…JOB SEEKERS BEWARE

by Willette Coleman ©2014

People who are desperate for a job may give potential employers all kinds of personal information.  Should a copy – yes, a COPY – of their Social Security card – yes, CARD – be included?  Is it even legal?

That’s the question Marie (name changed) asked personnel at a temp-to-perm executive employment agency.  She had filled out the job application with her social security (SS) number, so why did the employer need a COPY of her card on file?  “You can’t work for us if we don’t have a copy,” the company’s associate stated flatly.  This was Marie’s first experience with an employer making this demand.  Usually recruiters looked at her card, then, initialed the application to confirm seeing it.  “What do you do with the copy?” Marie asked.  “We scan it into our system for E-Verify,” the associate quipped.  Marie almost laughed when the woman declared, “your information is secure.” 

Your Information is Secure…HA!

Charles C. Mann’s and David H. Freeman’s book, AtLarge, “blows the lid off the frightening vulnerability of the global online network, which leaves not only systems, but also individuals, exposed.”  According to the Pew Research Center, 11% of Internet users have had personal information stolen.  Studies also show that “21% of users had had an email or social network account compromised.”

In 2013, hackers stole millions of social security numbers and IDs, including First Lady, Michelle Obama (Michelle Obama's IDdetails hacked from data brokers), “Bill Gates, Beyonce Knowles, Jay-Z, Ashton Kutcher and many others,” before being shut down. 

According to experts, hackers break into systems numerous ways, from using computer programs like “Trojan horse” (spyware disguised to look like one of Unix’s or Windows’ legitimate components), that are available on the Internet, to obtaining or guessing “root-access, which, [experts say], is as easy as getting your or my password, because servers are often shipped from the factory loaded with supposedly default ‘backdoor’ passwords…” meant to be “used by vendor technicians….”  Also, hackers can access individuals’ PCs “through a PC in a nearby home or a neighborhood cable switch,” because “cable companies that provide home Internet access treat entire neighborhoods like one local-area network,” said Freeman.

You’d think that government agencies and financial institutions would be invincible, but “Banks get hit by cyberattackers all the time and typically have some of the best defenses against them. This time, they were outgunned,” David Goldman wrote in, Major Banks Hit with Biggest Cyberattacks in History.  The 2008 World Bank Hacked, Sensitive Data Exposed article reported, the bank had “had multiple hacks…..”  “If I were going into e-crime, I’d hit a bank,” said security specialist, Jon David, in Forbes Magazine‘s How to Hack A Bank.  Hacked companies include Sony, Google Inc., Lockheed Martin,  Target is still reeling from the 2013 security breach.

An employer (or anyone) who has a copy of your SS card - which contains your signature – puts your identity at risk.  In 2011, “More than 11.6 million adults became a victim of identify fraud in the United States,” Javelin Strategy & Research reported.  The risk is equally great when you put your SS number on online job applications.  Months before the 2012 tax season, applicants couldn’t submit H.R. Block’s job application without inputting their SS number.  Consequently, H.R. Block has and will receive hundreds, maybe thousands, of applicants’ SS numbers.  With many employers using resume scanners to search keywords and phrases to select compatible candidates, what’s the point of having SS numbers of individuals in whom there’s no interest?

Job scams, which go hand-in-hand with identify theft, are another reason to NOT put your SS number online, nor allow an employer to make a copy of your SS card.  Not all companies are as legit as they appear.  Even legitimate companies may – unknowingly - have an unscrupulous employee who steals IDs.  Considering the risk, you’d think that an employer’s common sense would dictate that having individuals’ SS cards – hard copy or online – poses a security threat.

CareerBuilder is among few job search databases that alert job seekers:  

“For your privacy and protection, when applying to a job online:

Never give your social security number to a prospective employer;

provide credit card or bank account information, or perform

any sort of monetary transaction.”  (Author’s emphasis.)

SS CARD COPYING  POLICY – LEGAL Or NOT?
Curious about the associate’s by-the-book spiel about “e-verify,” Marie learned that E-Verify is “an Internet-based system that compares information from an employee’s Form I-9 to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility.”

Her online search also revealed an employer that queried online human resource advisors whether it’s “illegal to make and keep copies of employees’ social security cards.”  Part of the reply stated:   “…the I-9 form specifically gives employers the right to make copies of the supporting documents the employee presents….”; it would “be unlawful for you to require that job applicants — as opposed to employees — fill out an I-9 or give copies of identity documents. That is why the I-9 is completed AFTER a job offer has been accepted, but before the employee has worked for 3 days.”  (Author’s emphasis.)  Since Marie was an applicant, not an employee, no one asked her to complete an I-9.  Yet, they wanted a copy of her SS card.  

While the I-9 form “gives employers the right to make copies of the supporting documents…,” (e.g., SS cards), under Section 2, on the I-9 form, it clearly states:  “Employers may, but are not required to photocopy the documents presented.”  (Author’s emphasis.)  Even had she been offered and accepted the job, the employer wasn’t REQUIRED to copy her card despite the recruiter’s emphatic reply to Marie’s email thanking them for the interview and confirming her refusal to allow them to copy her card.  Marie stood firm knowing that the employer’s “copying policy” is ILLEGAL.

In today’s “wired/wireless” world, when and where possible, I minimize threats to my personal information.  I don’t my put home address on my resume and marketing materials.  I have a P.O. Box.  As I stated in 6 TIPS TO AVOID JOB SCAMS, anyone, I mean ANYONE, can see where you live via electronic “maps.”  Research shows that twelve percent of users have been stalked or harassed.  Just having his email address on his resume, Tyrone (name changed) said he’s noticed an increase in spam urging him to: “Follow up on your job application,” or claiming “Job application status pending.”  The point is: He NEVER applied for a job to these individuals or entities.     

So, to be as safe as reasonably possible, take CareerBuilder’s advice and just say “no thanks” should an employer request your SS number online.  [NOTE:  Government online applications, such as www.usajobs.gov, force you to input your SS number.]  And, if an employer reaches for your SS card to make a copy, quote the I-9, Section 2  Homeland Security law. 

Share your thoughts on this issue.
Thanks for reading, and 

Magic, Miracles & Blessings,
Willette