Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General

Because the theft and misuse of social security numbers (SSNs) is one of the primary modes of identity theft, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General (SSA OIG) is involved in investigating identity theft. The SSA has programs to assist victims of identity theft who have had their SSNs stolen or misused by placing fraud alerts on their credit files, replacing social security cards, issuing new social security numbers in specific instances, and helping to correct victims’ earnings records. The SSA OIG protects the integrity of the SSN by investigating and detecting fraud, waste, and abuse. It also determines how the use or misuse of SSNs influences programs administered by the SSA. The SSA OIG is involved in providing a limited range of SSN verification for law enforcement agencies. Further, the SSA OIG maintains a hotline for consumers to report identity theft, and then this data is transferred to the FTC to be included in their consumer complaint database.