Ah the double lives of superbaby terrorists...

Forum sniper strikes!

yah... this is why you should refuse to allow the hospital to sign your sprout up for a social security number... let them get it on their own when they're ready to work

DAMMIT! Didn't uncheck "preview before post" in time. Well, there's always next article.

Did he also have six passports?

Long story but I once help catch a guy living under the assumed identity of a dead person. I was working on an election-scam lawsuit and in the process of going through the questionable vote affadavits one of my worker's exclaimed, "Hey, I know this guy. He died as a kid 15 years ago." (It was a rather unique name.) Sure enough a visit to the local cemetary confirmed the exact name and birthdate. The guy had built an identity starting with a voter id card. His mistake was in actually voting.

"Credit fraud? My god, that's worse than murder!"

/obscure?

Does the kid get the money already in there?

I think the mother needs to take a few deep breaths, though...

I used to encounter this periodically when I worked as a telemarketer (I know, I know, I hated myself too). I'd call somebody and find out the person listed on the card we harvested the info from was a toddler. That sucked.

Old man-ish random storytime threadjack:

Worst call ever: Called for a man who had died that day. I literally beeped in on the call that was giving his wife the news. Worst call evar.

/threadjack

Soni,

How else are you going to be able to claim the child credit on your tax return?

Oughta take the farkin credit rating agencies about 18 years to get that off'n the kids record.

/Optimist

More often than not (though maybe not in this case) when a baby gets its identity stolen, the thieves are the parents. They will use a son's social security number to get credit cards or hook up utilities, then neglect to pay the bills, thereby screwing their children over for decades.

And yet, you pretty much have to give your kids SSNs when they are born, or at least you do if you want to claim a deduction.

Speaking of fraud... I was looking at my Discover Card account. An account I haven't used in a few years. I also just shred the cards as soon as I get them. I only received two cards.... yet my account says I have seven cards in my name. Huh? There has been no charges but I still find that scary/weird.

Hopefully this clears up rather quickly for the child, and that guy gets a solid 50+ year sentence to the PMITA prison.

farkiddyfarkfark: Worst call ever: Called for a man who had died that day. I literally beeped in on the call that was giving his wife the news.

Thats why they call it "cold calling."

I think you now have to have a SSAN for the kids to be able to claim them as deductions. The trouble is that the hospital either made them public or someone jacked the records. Lot of that going around.

Ohio recently took SSN's off of drivers' licenses, but you must show proof of SSN to get a renewal.

When I was a GI in the 70s, our SSANs were also our service numbers, so despite the Privacy Act of 1974, we're out there somewhere.

JohnyChevy is right. This from the IRS Form 1040 instructions, p. 21 -- get a SS number for the kid and if you can't then file late.

Why are they so worried about this kid having his credit screwed... they got it stopped... the most this stuff can stay on the credit record is 7 years (by law anyhow 10 for a bankruptcy). Surely the kid isn't going to need to obtain credit before he's 12...

This mother needs to chill. We don't have debtors prison in America... at least not yet!

BrotherTheodore - Does the kid get the money already in there?

That would be awesome if he did (that is, after they return as much of the money to the original victims as possible. Any left over though DEFINATELY should go for the kid's college fund and covering the costs of clearing up the ID Theft.

2006-03-30 10:24:42 AM WhereIsYourGodNow
"Credit fraud? My god, that's worse than murder!"

/obscure?


No ... Max was erased.

"Credit fraud? My god, that's worse than murder!"

Max Headroom. Quote was uttered by Murray in response to Edison Carter being accused of it.

//cmon gimme a hard one

Identity theft should be a capital punishment offense.

Bastages.

QT_3.14159

The problem isn't going to be whats on there now, but what happens in the future. Who knows who has that kids information? Maybe the crooks will chill out for 7 years, and then start up new trouble.

HippieBikerScumFromMars

Not the identity thieve's fault that the credit card companies seem unable to unb0rk themselves after a fraud happens. Once fraud has been determined, there should be no impact. Then fraud would simply be theft by the criminal from the insurer. Instead, it robs the individual because the credit card companies are running a scam and passing off the costs onto the victims.

Pxtl

I agree that the credit card companies need a better plan for unb0rking, but there is no way in HELL I am going to agree with you that anything about this is not the identity thief's fault.

It's the thief's farking fault that the credit card companies have to even try to get themselves unb0rked. Period. If it weren't for the thief, this wouldn't be a problem. It's that whole "personal responsibility" viewpoint of mine.

/ omigod i forgot the slashies!
// a travesty!
/// slashies!

StarshipPooper: Its possible they mailed you those little keychain cards and you didn't notice. That would make 4. Now for the other 3 I have no idea. That reminds me of something though.

Offtopic: I once had my debit account number stolen, someone apparently had my address and other information as well as they were using it to sign up for porn sites and other internet services. I reported it stolen they investigated and gave me a new card. I looked at the new card for a while (the numbers looked familiar) went home and compared and lo and behold the bank gave me the SAME CC number as before (even the same experation date, only the security numbers had changed). I asked them about it and at first they said.. Its alright, the old cards won't work anymore. I said that doesn't matter it was the numbers that were stolen not the card. After trying to argue the point for some reason they finally gave up and gave me new numbers, but they still didn't seem to get my point..

HippieBikerScumFromMars

To be clear - yes, it's the identity thief's fault that the problem happens. But it's the credit card company's fault that the victim's credit rating is permanently screwed. And that latter reason is why people scream "DEATH TO CREDIT FRAUDSTERS". Otherwise, they'd be just another group ripping off big businesses like insurance fraudsters, embezzelers, etc. that nobody really cares about.

Mom should look into getting the kid a new ss#. I think SS will do that in certain cases.

Pxtl

Oh, okay, I concede.

Nah, the bastages still need to die.

/ have to be extreme about something today.
// Tired of identity thieves, virus and spyware writers, and people who use slashies.
/// what???

MindStalker

That's lame, so far as I understand it cc companies still don't really check that number (I know we don't have to submit it).

JohnyChevyEG

Eh, Maybe... It's not likely that fraudsters are going to use an identity that's more likely to be watched when there are plenty of new ones out there to be stolen and run amok with before anyone notices and they are much less likely to be caught.

Yes, there's no telling who has the baby's information, but there's no telling who has YOUR information either.

I second that, lumpfish

I remember years ago some parents raised hell about their kid having 666 in his/her SSN. And the media found it newsworthy. If the SSA granted new numbers for that reason, why not identity theft? No worries then.

/have 666 in my SSN...yes, in a row
//mwuh-huh-hAH-HA-HA!

hehehe.... It was at Athol Savings Bank. Please, please let the president of the bank have a lisp.

I think the real issue here is that this kid is from Barre.
identity theft is the very least of his problems.

/grew up in that dumb one-horse town.

British
I got a hard one, but it's not for you. Your mom perhaps!

2006-03-30 10:20:48 AM Soni - this is why you should refuse to allow the hospital to sign your sprout up for a social security number... let them get it on their own when they're ready to work


You obviously do not have any kids. When you enroll your children in school, they have to have a social security number. If you have any intention of claiming your children for tax credit, you have to have a social security number.

Well, this mother seems to have gone off the deep end, and also missed something useful. The first step I would have taken is withdrawn all the money. Then you can visit another branch, try opening an acccount, 'finding out' that your toddler already has one, and then the rest of the story stays about the same, but you're ~20k richer.

soni:
yah... this is why you should refuse to allow the hospital to sign your sprout up for a social security number... let them get it on their own when they're ready to work

That'd be a great idea if for some strange reason you never had to claim them on your taxes or add them to your healthcare coverage or something insignificant like that.

QT_3.14159

Yeah, I really hope that someone takes my information and just goes off on my life. I've worked hard to get a decent credit rating. I did have it easy though, my dad has the same last name as me and for some reason, one of their credit cards showed up on my credit report as being opened when I was 4. HAHA, I have instant credit history.

Let's see....social security number...
naught naught naught
naught naught
naught naught naught two...

/damn Roosevelt

Yup, if you have a kid, request his/her free credit report when you request yours. If the child has no credit history, then you're fine.

Wait, Citizen's Bank, which CLOSED my first account w/o warning because they didn't have a driver's license number on file (I started it when I had just moved and didn't have State ID yet, no one ever asked me for it again), just took someone's WORD that they were using the right SSN?

This is what a lot of illegal immigrants do. They wind up using the SSN of other people for various purposes. Not all of them are running around and getting credit cards, but they're still jacking around with peoples social security numbers.
Yes, it's a big ass problem.

At one point my kitty Misty (Mysterious Madam X) had a bank acount under the name Misty Kitty (my last name here). We kept getting phone calls and no one would believe she was a cat! When they wouldn't close the account for me, I got her licence, put her in a kitty carrier that you wear on you chest, and went to the bank.

"Yes, I brought Misty Kitty (my last name here) so she could close her account. Here's her ID and here she is." The tell was confused, and then Misty spit on her. The branch manager closed the account immediatly.

/Siamese are champion spitters.
//Misty hates Mormans more then she hates you.
///She still gets catalogues every now and then.

Fabric_Man: More often than not (though maybe not in this case) when a baby gets its identity stolen, the thieves are the parents. They will use a son's social security number to get credit cards or hook up utilities, then neglect to pay the bills, thereby screwing their children over for decades.

And yet, you pretty much have to give your kids SSNs when they are born, or at least you do if you want to claim a deduction.

Many months ago I submitted a link to FARK on just that, with the headline "Identity theft of the cruelest kind on the rise." It wasn't greenlighted. :-(

Now that FARK only shows the past 90 days' worth of headline submissions in one's own Profile, I can't easily find it again, or I'd link the article here.

The IRS required infants to get SSNs for tax deduction purposes to cut down on fraud. Talk about your Law of Unintended Consequences! This deserves an Irony tag too big to fit on an IBM T-220 LCD monitor!