I’ve always had a problem with financial companies asking me for my personal information. I’ve always done my best to get around giving information like my social security number as a means of verifying who I am when on the phone with any financial institution. This weekend I had a realization about protecting your identity and it relates to something many people do every day: Stop giving out the last 4 digits of your social security number!
The whole point of companies asking for the last 4 numbers of your social security number is to protect you and your identity.
The irony of this is that the last 4 numbers of your social security number have now come to replace the entire number (9 digits). If all it takes is those 4 numbers to fully access, modify, or alter a financial account, then isn’t giving those 4 digits out the same thing as giving the entire number out?
I never give that information out and urge you to do the same.
When the logic behind our account “security” makes no sense whatsoever, isn’t it time to make a change?
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Article Author: Joshua DorkinJoshua has written 570 articles for us.
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Joshua Dorkin (@jrdorkin) is the founder and CEO of BiggerPockets.Mr. Dorkin's vision for BiggerPockets has helped to propel it into becoming one of the top real estate destinations online. His vision for the site and its future has brought national press attention to both Mr. Dorkin and to BiggerPockets.
Joshua Dorkin
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That’s a very interesting point! How do you usually get out of it? Will they ask for another piece of information to make sure you are who you say you are?
Yes, what do you provide them that allows them to verify who they are? Have you found that they accept an alternative?
If it someone who wants the number, but is not using it to verify my ID, such as the doctors office, a drug screening company, etc, what I do is give them a fake SSN so they are satisfied. If my SSN is stolen, it wont work with my name (like if they tried to apply for benefits, posing as me with my name, but using my fake SSN).
How I do I remember the fake SSN I use at different places?
1) I use the same fake SSN each place, each time.
2) I simply increase each number of my real SSN by one digit.
Example: if my real SSN is
038-51-2647, I write down
149-62-3758
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