What to do if your Social Security number is stolen

The Social Security Administration's publication Identity Theft and Your Social Security Number describes three main uses: opening credit in your name and leaving the bills unpaid, filing a tax return in your name to collect a refund, and getting a job with your number, making it look to the IRS as if you did not report all your income. Each has its own free block.

You may find out from a breach letter, a denied credit application, calls from collectors, or an IRS letter. You may not find out at all. That is why the steps below are worth doing even on suspicion.

1. Freeze your credit at all three bureaus. This is the big one. A lender cannot pull a frozen report, so almost no one will open new credit in your name. Freezes are free and last until you lift them. Our credit freeze guide links each bureau. Do all three: a thief only needs one unfrozen file.
2. Get an IRS Identity Protection PIN. Once you have one, a return filed under your SSN without the PIN is rejected. The IP PIN guide walks through it. If someone already filed in your name, the SSA publication points to the IRS identity protection pages and 1-800-908-4490.
3. Lock your SSN in E-Verify. Self Lock places a lock on your SSN in E-Verify and Self Check, so an employer that enters it gets a mismatch. You need a free myE-Verify account and three challenge questions. The lock stays on while your account is valid, and you can unlock it when a new employer needs to verify you. Not every employer uses E-Verify, so this narrows the risk rather than closing it.
4. Check your Social Security record. Sign in to or create a my Social Security account and look at your earnings history. Wages from an employer you never worked for mean someone is using your number for work. SSA says to report that to it so it can review your earnings with you.
5. Check your credit reports free every week at AnnualCreditReport.com for accounts or inquiries you do not recognize. See how to read them.

• Report it at IdentityTheft.gov or 1-877-438-4338. You get an FTC Identity Theft Report and a recovery plan with prefilled letters.
• Contact the fraud department of each business where an account was opened, and ask for it to be closed.
• Consider an extended fraud alert. The FTC says it lasts seven years and requires an identity theft report.
• If the misuse is online fraud, you can also file a complaint with the FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov, as SSA suggests.

Our identity theft recovery plan covers the order to do it in.

Sometimes, but it is a last resort. According to SSA, if you have done all you can to fix the problems and someone is still using your number, SSA may assign a new one. You must prove your identity, age and citizenship or immigration status, and show evidence of ongoing problems caused by the misuse. You cannot get a new number just because your card was lost or stolen with no evidence of misuse.

SSA also warns that a new number does not guarantee a fresh start. The IRS, state motor vehicle agencies, banks and credit bureaus keep records under your old number, and a new number with no credit history can make it harder to get credit.

• Do not carry your card. Keep it locked up with your other vital documents.
• When asked for your SSN, ask why it is needed, how it will be used and what happens if you refuse, as SSA suggests.
• Never give it to an incoming caller, even one claiming to be SSA, the IRS or your bank. Hang up and call the number you know.
• Shred documents that show it; see what to shred, and protect your mail with our mail theft guide.