Attorney General Paxton Join 43-State Bipartisan Coalition Urging Social Security Administration to Fight Identity Theft

AUSTIN, Texas -- Attorney General Ken Paxton today joined a bipartisan coalition of 43 state attorneys general urging the Social Security Administration (SSA) to comply with a new provision of federal law intended to protect Americans from the growing problem of synthetic identity theft. Such fraud occurs when criminals use real Social Security numbers along with fictitious names and birthdates to create fake identities, which are then used to apply for credit cards or loans.



Earlier this year, Congress passed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which includes a provision requiring the SSA to develop a database that allows quick verification of a consumer’s information when requested by a financial institution. The current database system doesn’t allow for real-time verification, and fraudsters are exploiting that delay – often at the expense of vulnerable children and recent immigrants who haven’t established credit histories.



In a letter from the National Association of Attorneys General to Nancy Berryhill, the acting commissioner of the SSA, Attorney General Paxton and his counterparts urged her to prioritize verification systems to accept electronic signatures or other verified methods so that financial institutions and others can quickly verify identity, or flag identity theft in real-time.



“Our residents lose thousands of dollars a year and suffer from ruined credit scores, as well as a general sense of anxiety regarding their identity,” Attorney General Paxton wrote. “Having a nimble system to respond to warning signs of identity theft, and to prevent theft from happening in the first place, is not only good government, it is good service to some of the most vulnerable members of the public.”



The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that synthetic ID fraud is one of the fastest growing forms of identification theft in the U.S., and some estimates put the global cost at more than $6 billion annually. Because fraudsters prefer using social security numbers of people with no existing credit record, up to half of the victims are children. It often takes years for victims of synthetic identity theft to unwind transactions and repair credit.



The attorneys general of Kansas and Oregon co-led the letter, which was signed by Attorney General Paxton along with the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.



View a copy of the letter here:

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2018/Press/Letter%20to%20Acting%20Commissioner%20Nancy%20A.%20Berryhill%20-%20Final.pdf