What are the 9 riskiest places to give your social security number?

Ralph
00:00:00

Have you ever felt that uncomfortable twinge in your gut when someone asks for your Social Security number? Every day, countless Americans are putting their identities at risk by sharing this crucial piece of information in places they really shouldn't. Today, we're going to unveil the 9 riskiest places to give your Social Security number and trust me, some of these might shock you. Stay tuned to learn how to protect yourself and your loved ones from the devastating consequences of identity theft.

Narrator
00:00:30

Welcome to the Ask Ralph podcast, where listening to an experienced financial professional with over 30 years of experience can help you make sense of confusing questions, current headlines and industry trends about taxes, small business, financial decision making, investment strategies, and even the art of proper budgeting. Ask Ralph makes the complex simple by sharing his real world knowledge from a Christian perspective with all things financial.

Now here's your host, Ralph Estep Junior.

Ralph
00:00:59

I want to start by thanking you for joining the show. I truly appreciate the trust you place in me. Now yesterday, we talked about using your retirement as an ATM machine. We looked at the problems and we looked at the potential pitfalls and we discussed how that quick cash can derail your long-term financial goals. So if you missed it, I'm going to encourage you to check it out.

Now, we've got a great question. This one comes from Tammy in Dallas, Texas, and this is what Tammy wrote. She said, "Ralph, I recently applied for a gym membership, and they asked me for my Social Security number. It felt odd, but I gave it to them because I really wanted to join. Now I'm worried. Did I make a mistake? How can I protect myself from identity theft? I've heard so many scary stories about people losing everything because of identity theft. What if someone's already using my information? I'm losing sleep over this."

Well Tammy, let me just start by saying that is a great question. And I am super happy that you reached out because guess what? Your gut was right.

And there were very valid concerns because the truth is identity theft is serious and it can be truly devastating and it's not just financially, but it's also devastating to your peace of mind because for many people have said this to me, you feel like you've been violated. I've found some great information and where not to share your Social Security number.

And we're going to talk today how to protect yourself. And remember, just like Tammy, this show's all about answering your questions. If you've got a question for the show, go to justaskralph.com and guess what? Your question may very well be featured on this show. I want to answer your questions and don't forget, every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM Eastern time, we go live.

That's right. You can join us at askralphpodcast.com/live for real-time questions and answers and deeper dives into these crucial financial topics. It's a place to bring your questions. We'll answer them right there on the show.

You know Tammy, your question is all about seeing danger and being prudent. I found a Bible verse from Proverbs that speaks directly to it. And this is what it says. Proverbs 22:3 tells us, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty." And this verse is telling us it is so very important to be vigilant, but we also got to be proactive, especially in our financial lives and identities.

I was thinking about it on the way over here, across the farm riding to get to the office to do this recording this morning. The first time I really remember somebody asking for my social security number. And I remember is when I went away to college. My first year in college I spent at the University of Nebraska and I remember getting ready for college, getting moved into college, it seemed like all of a sudden, and I hadn't really thought about my social security number till that point, but it seemed like once I got in college, it was every day or every time I filled out some paperwork, they were asking for my social security number. Well, now let's get to Tammy's question and explore the 9 riskiest places to give your social security number. And Tammy, you hit the nail on the head with the first one. It's gym memberships, and this, and this is a very common experience, Tammy you experienced. Now they claim it's for a credit check and that may be true, but it's rarely necessary that they do that. And think about the big picture. It's putting your information at risk. So what I would do is I would ask them if there's other options. Maybe you can do a prepayment. Maybe you can pay a quarter ahead or half your head, or even a year ahead, or put a credit card on file to handle it.

And if they don't want you to do that, then I would ask them to give you access to directly contact with their credit source. Maybe they've got a website that's a secure website, or you can phone it in to somebody. At least in, and the last thing you can do is just say, you know what, I'm going to go find another gym that doesn't do this.

So Tammy, you were right on point. One of the 9 riskiest places, gym memberships. Let's look at number two. And that's job applications. Now you might be saying Ralph, every time I've went to work for somebody, they made me fill out one of those W-4 forms and an I-9 forms. Yes, they will eventually need your social security number. That's fine, but the thing you need to do, here's my advice for you. Wait until you've been hired because there are a ton of fake job postings online.

You got to be wise and not get scammed. I will talk about that a little bit later in this show. Somebody actually went through that. So that's number two, job applications. Number three, school forms. I mentioned this when I went away to college. And they may ask for these things, but in most cases, they generally don't need them. They have a student ID. Most colleges, most great schools for that matter now have a student ID. And if they ask you for your social security number, it's okay to press them and say, why do you need this? What is the information you're trying to get from me? Are there other ways to do it? Like I said, look for alternatives. And the issue is that these things seem to float around. You write it down on a piece of paper and you wonder where that paper goes.

Is it going some file sitting on somebody's desk or in some insecure place because here's the deal. And I did a little research for this show. Your social security number was never intended to be something for identity. And I actually thought it was illegal to do this. But it's not illegal, but I'm going to share an article from the U.S. Department of Justice in the show notes.

It talks about how you can and don't have to use your social security number. A lot of people don't know that. So that's number three, school forms. Let's move on to number four and that's medical offices. And I know what you're saying, “Ralph they're always saying to me, I need that for billing.” And that's fine.

I get it. But watch their forms. Don't fill these things out in the waiting rooms and let them sit on some counter or something. There are identity thieves out there just watching for that. Look for a way to send that to them secured. Maybe you say to him, “Hey, do you have a secure portal where I can upload this information?”

Is there a place where we can go on private, and I can share this information. I'm not a big proponent of writing it down and handing it to somebody because where does that piece of paper go? And the big picture thing you hear me say this time and time again is ask questions. It's okay to question why do you need my social security number? What are you going to do with it? Where is it going to be stored? Those are all reasonable questions. So number four was medical offices. Let's look at number five and you're going to love this one. This is retail store credit card applications. Just picture this, you're standing at the register.

How many people have had this happen to them? You're standing in the register. There's a bunch of people in line and the clerk says to you, “Hey, we've got this great credit offer right now that will give you $50 or we'll give you six months same as cash. All I need you to do is fill out this quick credit application.”

And the first word out of their mouth is what is your social security number? So here, you're sitting there standing in line with a bunch of people around you and this clerk is asking for your social security number. Now, here's the thing. A lot of people think, well, I've got this obligation, I've got to do it if I want to make this purchase. You are never obligated to apply for credit to make a purchase. Now, if you want to take advantage of that, the way I would handle that, again, I would say, listen, I don't feel comfortable giving my social security number out here in public. Is there a form that I can complete online?

Is there a place where we can go and do this in some privacy? And it may be a great deal that they're offering, you know, the special credit offer, something like that, but doing it in line in a busy store is not the right answer. So that was number five and that's don't give it out at retail store credit card applications.

Let's look at number six and that is if you ever get email or phone requests. Here's a, here's a very true statement. Never give out your social security number via email or a phone. It's just not secure, especially email. Anybody could intercept that email. There’re ways to find better ways to do it. In our practice, we actually use a secure portal where clients can upload their information in a secure environment where it requires a username, password, multi-factor authentication. And listen, if they keep insisting, I need your social, I need your social, just push back and say, I don't feel comfortable. Stand up for your rights.

It's okay to protect your identity. So that was number six, email or phone request. Let's look at number seven and that's financial aid applications. Now these might be legitimate apps, and they may require it, but you got to watch out for scams. I don't know how many times I've heard from clients about getting this email. Maybe they got a kid who is getting ready to go on the college. And they're looking for ways to find funding so they're doing a bunch of Google searches for grants and gifts and scholarships and all this kind of stuff. And all of a sudden, this email comes in, hey, it looks fantastic. You know. Just enter your student's information and one of those questions is a social security number. Be careful about that. Steer clear of that.

If you need to contact them and verify, ask questions, and again, look for those secure options. There are secure options for sharing your information. So that was number seven and that was financial aid applications. Let's look at number eight. Many of us went through this. This is that apartment rental application. They might say too, hey Ralph, you know, if you want to get an apartment here, we have to run a background check. And as part of that background check, here I've got his piece of paper on my desk. Just fill in the paperwork and hand it to me. Again where's that piece of paper going? Ask them about alternative forms of ID. Maybe you can use a driver's license. Maybe you can do something else or look at secure channels, not some piece of paper that's sitting on an apartment manager or a rental manager's desk.

Think about that. Those pieces of paper just float around. Not everybody's good about shredding stuff. They're left in folders or maybe some online site that's not secure. Maybe you go to the apartment's website. You notice it's not a secure site and they're asking you to fill out that application.

They're asking for that social security number and it's not in a secure environment. I would go look for another apartment or ask him for a different way to do it. So that's number eight. Apartment rental applications. And number nine. And this one may be the biggest duh moment of the day. Don't ever give your social security number ad on social media or online platforms.

It's just something you don't want to do. Never share it on public platforms. Look for secure fits or portals to share. That's just the truth. Don't ever give it out on social media. And like I said, that might be a big duh. But a lot of people aren't savvy about these things, and they think, oh, what's the horror.

I'm just going to give my social security number. Again, don't do it. Well, are you ready for some crazy stories? Let me tell you a couple of crazy ones that I've had over the last 30 years being in practice. We're going to call this guy Tom. You know I never use real names. So he is just like you, Tammy, he went to the gym. And he said, they said to him, look Tom, if you want to join this gym, we need your social security number. Tom reluctantly gave it to him.

He put it down on their application, who knows where the application went. Well fast forward, six months later, all of a sudden Tom starts getting notices that multiple credit cards had been opened up in his name and they had racked up thousands in debt. Well, when they looked into it, an employee at the gym was collecting that information and selling it to identity thieves.

See, that's the kind of stuff that goes on. So if you've got to go back and think about it, don't give your social security number to the gym or look for alternative ways to do it. Let me tell you about my friend, Mary. We mentioned this a little while ago. She gave her social security number on a job application.

She was unemployed. She was looking for that new job. She was in between careers. And she got this email about this fantastic job because she had been Google searching for jobs. She had been on all this site. She went out on social media and tell friends and family, Hey, if you hear about any good jobs, let me know.

So she got this email, and it looked great and was this promising opportunity. Well guess what? Mary fell victim to a super sophisticated phishing scam, and they stole her identity. And the worst part of that is she spent two years trying to fix it. It caused such anxiety in her that she had to start going to see a counselor because she felt violated.

And in her case they actually filed fraudulent tax returns. They opened bank accounts in her name. It was a terrible situation. So don't be like Mary. Now this one I read online and this is a truly chilling one. There was a small business owner. He got a call from someone claiming to be with the IRS. Listen.

I think it's funny because I get these calls, and I like to play along. I'll keep them on the phone for a while until they realize that I'm playing with them. Well, in this particular case, the IRS person or the fake IRS person claimed he owed back taxes and here's the catch. They needed his social security number so they could verify and make sure they're talking to the right person. Now this guy, he was worried about the issue.

He felt pressured. He felt scared. A lot of us have been in that situation. You get that call, and it seems like it's correct. So what did he do? He complied with their request and within a couple of days, his business accounts were drained. He had loans taken out on him. And according to this article online, it took several years to rebuild his credit, and it significantly impacted his business. All because of a scam call.

Let me tell you a funny one. So it was probably 10 years ago, 12 years ago, I had a client. She owned an in-home daycare. And I may have mentioned this on the show before. So if I did, I apologize, but for the new listeners, you get to hear this. So this client of mine, she'd been a client for several years.

She had an in-home daycare and all of a sudden, she gets this phone call, and this person called and said they were from the IRS and they need to talk to her right away. And they said to her, listen, if you don't get this money to us, we want you to go and buy a money order, send this money order to call me back and give me the numbers.

Well at that point my client was so scared because the people were threatening to lock her up. She went and hit at a grocery store and call my office. And I said to her, wait a second. Did this person give you any contact information? Well, yeah Ralph, they told me I got to go buy these gift cards and then call them back with the gift numbers.

And I said to her, I'm not going to use her name. I said, have you ever heard of the IRS asking to be paid with gift cards? I mean, think about it now. You want to pay your taxes at the end of the year, and you send them an Amazon gift card or a target gift card. Didn't pass the sniff test. But again, you got to be very careful.

Let me tell you about my client, Emily. And Emily got an email, and I've had this happen to me. She got this email that appeared to be from her bank. Like I said, it happened to me once and it warned of suspicious activity on her account that has a link. And I remember her telling me, she said, Ralph, it said to click this link and the first thing it asked for was her social security number to verify her account. And guess what it was? It was that classic phishing scam and Emily fell for it. And within hours her savings were wiped out.

She told me, she said, Ralph, it was the logo from my bank. It looked like it took me to the right website. I mean, I log into the site all the time. Yeah. They had totally spoofed it. And her identity was being used all across the world in hours. It was like a raging wildfire. And I did a show about how to protect yourself online.

I'll put that in the show notes as well. Well, you might be asking Ralph, you've done a lot of talking about where and not to use your social security number. So what are the key takeaways? I'm going to tell you right now. Here's the thing. You've got to be vigilant about protecting your social security number, because the truth is thieves are getting increasingly sophisticated about this.

They strike in ways we don't expect. And just like the Bible verse said, we got to take proactive steps to protect ourselves. So with that in mind, here's some best practices that good old Ralph recommends. Number one, always question why your social security number is needed. If it's not absolutely necessary, don't provide it.

My wife gets on me sometimes because we go to a medical office or something like that. And they'll give you this paperwork to fill out and I'm like, why do they need all this information? Why do they need my social security number? The best one I've seen recently is they give you this piece of, it's like a piece of cellophane for lack of a better term, and it's so they can use it over and over again, you write with this Sharpie marker that's erasable, and then you hand it to them. But the problem is many times it's sitting up on the counter for 10 or 15 minutes. There's other people coming and going. And if I'm an identity thief, I'm looking at that and go, oh, let me see how many social security numbers I can collect.

So always question why it's needed. And if they say they have to have it go somewhere private or give it to them in some kind of secure format. And which leads me to number two. Offer alternative forms of identification when possible, such as a driver's license number. No one's going to go open up credit in your name using your driver's license number.

Now maybe a piece of the puzzle if they've got your date of birth and your social security number. But look for alternative forms of identification. Don't just go to that social security number. And number three, if you must provide your social security number, ask how will it be protected and stored.

That's a fair question. When we have clients come in and get their taxes done, we have confidentiality policies. I explained to them how their data is stored. We don't have pieces of paper sitting around with their social security number. In fact, most of our tax software now, when you print a return, doesn't even print the whole social security number.

It usually only prints the last four. So that's one of the things you also want to do. Number four. And I talk about this on the show all the time. You've got to regularly monitor your credit reports for any suspicious activity. And each of these cases where there was identity theft, there was activity that happened right away.

Now, maybe you can't stop it from happening, but you can certainly put it to stop once it starts happening. Once you see those things like, I'm a member of Norton 360, and I get those alerts and I'm going to highly recommend those types of things. And last but not least, consider placing a security freeze on your credit reports to prevent unauthorized accounts from being opened in your name. You can put a security freeze on your account and then you could take that off. Let's say, and I've done this actually from time to time. You can put that security freeze on your account.

And if a creditor goes out to pull your credit, they get a kickback that says there's a lock on this account. But you might say Ralph, well then what if I want to go buy a car loan? It's no big deal. You turn off the security freeze when you go to the car dealership. Another thing you can do, and I'm alluded to this a little bit.

You can use technology to protect yourself. Things like LifeLock. That's the one I use. Identity guard, PrivacyGuard. Look at those credit monitoring services, because those things are going to alert you quickly and here's the thing I didn't even know. Many credit card companies offer this for absolutely free.

Remember this. Your social security number is the key to your financial identity. It just is. You've got to guard it carefully just like you would guard the keys to your home. You don't leave those sitting on the counter and say to thieves, hey, come take it. Well now, let me wrap it up for a second here. We covered a lot.

We explored the 9 riskiest places to use your social security card. If you're using it in any of those places ask the questions, where are you going to store it? Why do you need it? How are you going to safeguard it? We talked about some real stories of victims and don't be a victim.

Use these best practices, use technology to protect yourself because you get one social security number, you got to guard it. Now, maybe after you listen to this you're feeling overwhelmed. You feel like Ralph, dude, these complexities are just too much for me to manage. Maybe you're worried about protecting your identity.

You feel like you're constantly playing defense. Trust me, I've been there and done that. You might be saying Ralph, I'm trying to keep my head above water. I'm fending off these potential threats. I feel like I'm being attacked on every side. It's exhausting, isn't it? It sure is. And here's the good news.

You don't have to navigate this alone. I'm here to help you. I'm here to help you take control of your finances. I'm here to help you protect your assets. I'm here to help you achieve peace of mind, because guess what? Nobody wants to say this, but you deserve it. You deserve to have peace of mind. You deserve to have your assets protected and you deserve to be in control of your finances. Maybe you're thinking Ralph, that's all great. You know, as far as identity theft grows, my credit's wrecked and I'm struggling with debt. Maybe you're trying to build wealth.

Maybe you're looking for better ways to manage your money. I can help you with all those things. I will work with you. We'll create a personalized plan that balances your finances and your goal. So listen to me. Don't let another day go by. Stop feeling uncertain. Take action today. You can start by booking a call with me.

Just go to askralph.com. You'll see a banner at the top. Click on book a call with Ralph and let's work together. As I said, let's improve your personal finances. If you've got a business, let's grow that business. Let's work at achieving all of your financial goals. It all starts with you booking that call.

Now join me tomorrow as I tackle a hot button issue in the world of finance. And that is why is a wealth tax such a terrible idea? This has been talked about in the press a lot and I'm going to explore the potential consequences and discuss some alternative approaches to addressing wealth inequality. It's one you don't want to miss.

There's a lot of misinformation out there and I'm going to put it all out there and you'll be able to make a decision yourself. So just remember this, my passion is to help you achieve financial success. That's why I do this podcast every day. I do the live show on Tuesday nights. I release these things to Rumble.

I release these things to YouTube. We put them out as Reels, we do them as Shorts. I read a blog post everyday. Yeah, there's a lot going on because I want to help you. I want you to find that financial success. I want you to live out your dreams and at the same time, it's not this secular thing.

It's all about growing in your faith. And I know if we work together, we can master your finances from that Christian perspective. So as I always end the show, stay financially savvy out there. Pay attention to what's going on with your social security number, ask questions and guard your identity. And as I always say, God bless you.

Narrator
00:22:06

Thank you for joining us on the Ask Ralph podcast. And with a simple click to subscribe, we invite you back to our next episode.

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