The government doesn’t have to look very far to see who’s ignoring its advice on preventing identity theft.
It’s the government itself.
The nation’s Medicare agency and the Pentagon want at least 52 million Americans to carry their Social Security numbers in their wallets, contrary to warnings by the Federal Trade Commission that people should avoid doing so.
At least 44 million Medicare insurance cards include the beneficiary’s full Social Security number. The number also appears on 8 million Defense Department identity cards used by active duty and reserve forces and their dependents, and on identification cards issued to military retirees. The Pentagon, however, plans to remove the numbers but won’t complete the effort until 2014.
And the Internal Revenue Service still tells taxpayers to write their Social Security number on checks used to make payments, a potential problem for those using the mail rather than filing electronically. The IRS has no plans to change the system.
Changing the identity numbers would cost Medicare less than two days’ spending for the war in Iraq.
All this contradicts advice from the Federal Trade Commission, the lead federal agency for deterring identity theft.
“Protect your Social Security number. Don’t carry your Social Security card in your wallet or write your Social Security number on a check,” the FTC warned in a pamphlet sent months ago to every mailing address in the United States.
Source: Associated Press
