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Tag: Social Security

  • Social Security Number Scams: How They Work

    It’s a bit of a dichotomy. We’ve been told many times to be careful about giving out our Social Security numbers, but it seems like we’re being asked for all or part of it in almost every business transaction. I once saw a video rental store — back when there were such things — requiring a customer’s SSN before allowing them to rent a video. One guy refused to give it. They told him to get lost.

    But why is it such a big deal? Everyone knows that the answer is “identity theft,” but how?

    Your Credit Identity

    The most common thing you hear about is someone applying for a loan, only to learn that someone else has opened credit cards in their name and had a spending spree. All it takes to do that is your SSN, and maybe a pre-approved credit card offer in some junk mail you’ve thrown away. These problems are solvable, but not without some incredibly inconvenient process.

    And this whole scam can get very easy. Some department stores will have you fill out a one or two page form for a credit card application. They key your SSN into the computer, and give you credit that can be used in the store right away. A thief can load up on clothing, tools, electronics, and leave you holding the bill.

    Your Employment Identity

    The most commonly-heard form of this is when employers use stolen Social Security Numbers for undocumented workers. Why would this hurt you? At the end of the year, when you file your taxes, your information will not match what the IRS has on file for you. Suddenly, you tax refund is reduced, and there goes that car you were hoping to put a down payment on.

    Your Political Identity

    There is an unbelievable number of people who subscribe to the conspiracy theory that President Obama is using a stolen Connecticut Social Security Number. There have been three different variations on this, all of which have explanations. The notion has been long disproven, but that doesn’t stop it from spinning around the interwebs.

    Image via YouTube

  • MTA Transit Employees Have Their Personal Info Exposed In Data Breach

    Around 15,000 current and former workers of the New York City Transit Authority have their Social Security number and other personal data exposed after the information was found on a CD, which was still inside a refurbished CD-ROM drive. The Associated Press further reported that the information was discovered when the buyer of the reworked CD drive saw the disc, checked its contents, and recognized some of the names on the list.

    The buyer, who happens to be employed by a New York City Transit vendor, immediately notified her employer about the incident. The MTA’s chief information officer Sidney Gellineau wrote a letter that said the vendor turned in the CD to the lawyer of the New York City Transit Authority without making a copy or engaging in any “misuse of the data”.

    Gellineau’s letter, which was sent on March 6, was addressed to the individuals affected by the security breach. He assured them that the MTA has commenced the investigation in order to get to the bottom of the situation.

    The contents of the disc included complete names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and even earnings of approximately 15,000 active, former, retired, and deceased NYC Transit workers. The affected employees hold a variety of positions within the company, ranging from executives, supervisors, and salaried workers. No hourly paid employees were found on the list.

    In the MTA’s letter, Gellineau declared that their policy prohibits the placement of unencrypted personal data on a CD by an employee. He added that their company is “not aware of any other such violation of the policy”. According to the Associated Press, a complaint has been filed with the NYPD, although the police department has yet to comment on the issue.

    News of personal data theft committed by hackers have been a hot security topic lately, but experts claim that it is not unusual for personal information to be exposed by accident. In order to prevent these accidental breaches, some companies place restrictions on their workers’ computers that make them unable to copy files and take them outside the workplace.

    NYC Subway

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • AARP And Social Security Benefits

    AARP And Social Security Benefits

    If you’re not 50 or older, you may not be interested in AARP – the American Association of Retired Persons. AARP is a group designed to help retirees with their financial lives after the age of retirement – 62 years old.

    The requirement to join this advocacy group for older folks heading into retirement age is that you have reached 50 years of age.

    AARP Mission Statement claims: AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, with a membership of more than 37 million, that helps people turn their goals and dreams into real possibilities, strengthens communities and fights for the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare, employment security and retirement planning.

    The biggest advantage to being a member of this group is their advocacy with regard to Social Security and Medicare benefits. AARP fights to keep these earned benefits from being cut, ensuring that this governmental retirement program does not get reduced because the deficit is so extremely high.

    For years, government has wanted to modify, cut, adjust and change social security and Medicare benefits all in an effort to reduce excess costs related to over spending.

    Americans are tired of hearing politicians say that the only way to strengthen Medicare is to cut benefits and make older people and future retirees pay more. And they overwhelmingly oppose a current proposal to cut Social Security as part of a deal to reduce the deficit. There’s a better way.

    Because Social Security benefits are a self-financed program – in other words, every taxpayer from the start of their working age has paid into this program so that when retirement age occurs, they have an income in which to survive. It is not a program funded by the government, it belongs to the people who paid into it for generations.

    Yet right now, President Obama and Congress are trying to balance the budget by cutting the yearly cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security.

    This may sound as if it isn’t a huge reduction proposal, however, it would mean significant cuts in the security of benefits to the elderly, and annually the cuts would increase, reducing the amount available to American’s who rely on this money, now and in the future.

    AARP fights and continues to fight Washington to take responsible action with regard to keeping Social Security strong now and in the future. If you’re 50 or older, joining them can help them with the much-needed funds to do this.

    They are benefits older people have earned — and past generations have promised.

    Image via SSA.Gov

  • Social Security Increase Lowest in Decades as Inflation Ravages US Dollar

    Millions of Social Security recipients and disabled veterans will receive the smallest benefits increase since 1975, when automatic increases were adopted to offer a shield against price inflation, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

    The benefits will increase by roughly 1.5 percent, against price inflation of almost 10%, when measured using more forthright methods employed by the Federal Government itself, until 1980.

    However, consumer prices, when measured according to dubious modern methods might enable Federal Government to justify the meager raises next year.

    The precise extent of the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) will be determined using inflation data released by the US Labor Department. In the midst of all the uncertainty surrounding the government shutdown, both parties and White House are quarreling over entitlements and debt, while almost 58 million Social Security recipients have been left in limbo.

    With real inflation almost crossing the 10% threshold, prices are doubling every 7 years, and disabled veterans, children, women and seniors are staring at grinding poverty. If government raises these benefits by 1.5%, the typical monthly payment would rise by $17, equivalent to two Chinese take-out dinners, on an average monthly check (or direct deposit) of $1,162.

    The COLA increases since 1975 have averaged 4.1% per annum, but never managed to keep up with real inflation. Millions of seniors on fixed incomes are feeling robbed and helpless in the face of Federal Reserve’s power to inflate ad infinitum. Among those hardest hit are 3 million disabled veterans and at least 8 million poor dependent on Supplemental Security Income.

    “I’m not one of those folks that’s going to fall into poverty, but it is going to make a difference in my standard of living as time goes by…I live in a small apartment and I have an old car, and it’s going to break down. And no doubt when it does, I’ll have to fix it or get a new one,” said David Waugh, a retiree from Maryland.

    In the aftermath of 2008 financial crisis, there was no COLA in 2010 and 2011, since the government deemed price inflation to be too low.

    Remarkably, despite the misery wrought on the seniors, AARP estimates the COLA to be between 1.5-1.7%, in agreement with government claims.

    Efforts to privatize Social Security have been drummed out of all public debate, despite the phenomenal success of the Galveston Plan, named after Galveston County of Texas. The Galveston Plan was enacted after county employees withdrew from Federal Social Security system, and invested their retirement funds into private accounts managed by the conservative First Financial Benefits, the company that manages the accounts. http://youtu.be/hnfiYh8Xv_Y?t=6m56s

    Despite the central role of inflation in determining the purchasing power of dollar, it has never attracted the vigorous national (and international) debate it deserves. And that is the slow motion tragedy unfolding in America, with every passing day.

    [image from wikipedia]

  • Fastest-Growing Baby Name is ‘Game of Thrones’-Inspired

    The U.S. Social Security administration (SSA) this month released its yearly lists of the most popular baby names in America. Though some mainstays dominated the lists, a few surprises are making their way from popular culture to hospital nurseries.

    Perhaps the biggest surprise is the fastest-growing name for females. Fantasy fans who thought themselves original may be displeased to learn that Arya has jumped from the 711th most popular female name in 2011 to the 413th in 2012. The name is a reference to Arya Stark, a favorite character of many readers of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, on which the hit HBO TV show Game of Thrones is based.

    The fastest-rising male name for 2012 was Major, which the SSA attributes to its military association.

    “I have no doubt Major’s rising popularity as a boy’s name is in tribute to the brave members of the U.S. military, and maybe we’ll see more boys named General in the future,” said Carolyn Colvin, acting commissioner of the SSA.

    As for the names that are most popular, Jacob has retained its first place status on the male list, where it has been for 14 years in a row (since 1999). Sophia has topped the girls list for the second year in a row. The names Elizabeth and Liam have popped into the top 10, pushing out Chloe and Daniel.

    The top 10 male names, in order, are: Jacob, Mason, Ethan, Noah, William, Liam, Jayden, Michael, Alexander, and Aiden. The top female names are: Sophia, Emma, Isabella, Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail, Mia, Madison, and Elizabeth.