Saturday, February 24, 2018

McCaskill, Republican senators team to fight synthetic identity theft

(From Sen. Claire McCaskill)

What do I have in common with Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and Tim Scott?

Well for one, our commitment to protecting folks in our states from identity theft and fraud.

Every American gets a Social Security number, so that when we grow old, this system that we've paid into our entire lives will help us live out our later years with dignity and financial security.

But now, scammers are using children's stolen Social Security numbers to open fraudulent credit cards before they even graduate high school. We need to stay ahead of the curve to protect Missourians' financial well-being, and we need the Social Security Administration to step up to the task.

That's why I teamed up with Senators Cassidy and Scott to push the Social Security Administration to crack down on this kind of fraud—known as synthetic identity theft—and protect Missourians by requiring financial institutions to confirm that the names and birthdates on credit card applications match Social Security numbers.

Considering how devastating and expensive identity theft can be, this is a commonsense solution that asks financial institutions to do basic due diligence to protect consumers—and make sure our Social Security system is helping folks the way it's supposed to.

Read our letter to Acting Social Security Administrator Nancy Berryhill:

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