Utah moves to protect its own against identity theft

In a rare move, a state attorney general plans to begin notifying thousands of residents whom it suspects have had their Social Security numbers misused by undocumented job applicants.

This week, Utah's top law enforcement office will send out a first batch of letters based on data collected for state public-assistance programs. It is sending only 100 letters for now – out of a potential 20,000 – for fear of being overwhelmed by upset citizens seeking help.

In January, Utah took the unique step of changing its laws to specifically allow this notification, in response to high-profile reports of a growing number of children's Social Security numbers being compromised. This is the first such state law in the US in recent years.

Laws and incomplete data hinder most states and the federal Social Security Administration from informing citizens of anomalies with their Social Security numbers. Common red flags: people with multiple names filing wages under the same number, and young children showing wage earnings.

The system's enforced silence irks some officials concerned with the proliferating mess caused by identity theft. But at the federal level the issue is tangled up with the emotionally charged paralysis over illegal immigration.

"I really am plenty upset at the US government for having put the states in the position of having to deal with all these problems when it's really a federal issue," says Utah's assistant attorney general Richard Hamp, who spearheaded Utah's effort to bring transparency to those databases the state controls. "Why wasn't the federal government either enforcing the border-crossing laws or giving out workforce numbers so you didn't compound the problems with the Social Security numbers?"

According to Mr. Hamp, data from the federal Social Security Administration (SSA) showed in 2000 that some 132,000 Utahns had compromised numbers. State officials, however, don't have a full data set to work with, and so instead have looked at public-assistance rolls kept by the state's Department of Workforce Services.

A USEFUL NUMBER

Whether this form of identity theft poses much danger is a matter of debate given the lack of data. Many undocumented workers could use someone else's Social Security number to fill out a job form – and nothing more. The concern, however, is that more illegal workers will begin to use the number for credit applications, mortgages, and other purposes as they put down roots here..

At the very least, the workplace records wind up on victims' credit reports, and they may also be cross-pollinating hospital and criminal justice databases, says Hamp.

"It isn't just a work issue. It's a financial issue, it's becoming a medical issue, and it's becoming a 'do you want to spend a night in jail because of somebody else's warrant' issue. The ripples are becoming waves," Hamp says.

The consequences have not been quite so dramatic for three Utah victims contacted for this article.

Kyle McOmber and Dain Berrett, both students at Brigham Young University in Provo, each learned from employers' background checks that someone was using their numbers. It's common, Mr. McOmber's new boss told him, for undocumented workers to know the first three digits assigned by the state and to guess at the rest.

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