ShareThisWASHINGTON - The head of the Social Security Administration reportedly has agreed to meet with two U.S. senators to discuss changing a policy that now inadvertently enables the identity theft of deceased Americans, including children.
Commissioner Michael Astrue agreed to meet with the senators, Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Bill Nelson of Florida, about his agency's so-called Death Master File. They had written to Astrue on Tuesday raising concerns about public dissemination of the file, which contains the nine-digit Social Security numbers of roughly 90 million people who've died.
In an interview, Nelson said he would ask Astrue to delay the release of a Social Security number after a person's death or truncate that number "so the crooks can't get all of this information and create a false identity."
The development comes a week after a Scripps Howard News Service investigation showed how ID thieves use the Social Security numbers of dead children -- which the federal agency releases, in full -- to submit false tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service and collect refunds.
In response to the Scripps report, Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, called for a hearing and Rep. James Moran, D-Va., contacted Social Security to request that the agency reduce the information it makes public.
Social Security officials have acknowledged that the records they release are used fraudulently, but say a 1980 court opinion requires them to disclose the complete numbers. An agency spokesman did not respond to an interview request for this article.
Durbin's office confirmed through a spokeswoman that it's scheduling a meeting next week with Astrue and Nelson.
Nelson has pushed for stronger ID protections and introduced legislation in September that would keep a Social Security number private for two years following a death. Similar measures introduced previously have not passed.
(Email reporter Isaac Wolf at wolfi(at)shns.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
