[ale] OT: am I paranoid?

[Bjorn Dittmer-Roche]

On Thu, 9 Oct 2003 griffisb at bellsouth.net wrote:

> Don't know if these links will work or not - but the first 3 digits of
> your social security number are based on where you lived when you
> applied for an ssn. It goes by zip code. Since I received mine when
> living in Portland, Maine -my first digits are (something something
> something - so there!).
>
> If you have the last 5 digits based on the online game, and then ask a
> person where they were born and grew up - you can possibly grab another
> 3 digits. This leaves 2 for messing with.

so 100 possibilities. I think you could do that when applying for a cc
online.

It all Sounds pretty sketchy to me. I am always suspicious with anything
regarding SSN. My rule of thumb is: If they use your ssn for anything,
chances are they don't understand security and whoever designed the system
has never heard of identity theft.

>
> References:
> http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/ssa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=KJQZKmVg&p_lva=&p_faqid=87&p_created=955483216&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NjImcF9jYXRfbHZsMT0xNiZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=
>
> http://www.ssa.gov/foia/stateweb.html
>

thanks for those refs, bruce!

	bjorn