Though Not Technically Identity Theft, Illegal Aliens Can Spell Credit Problems

An interesting identity theft case is currently headed to the Supreme Court. At issue is the fact that illegal aliens often use forged identification and Social Security numbers in order to appear eligible to work in this country. The difference between this case and a typical one regarding identity theft is that the workers, or organizations that they hire in order to obtain the paperwork they need, usually simply create Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, etc. for the workers to use out of thin air, just picking most any string of digits that will work.

The defendant in this case is Ignacio Carlos Flores-Figueroa, a Mexican immigrant who was caught using the Social Security number of one legitimate individual and the green card number of someone else in order to get and maintain a job at an East Moline, Illinois, steel plant, according to the Associated Press. So far, the courts have sided with the prosecution and have sentenced Flores-Figueroa to prison time. The appeal reached the Supreme Court in 2009.

It will be interesting to see how this case finally turns out. The verdict may be more of a high-profile one for immigration advocates than for those interested in information security, but it is sure to impact both arenas in the long run.

This case is a different take on the identity theft crime than we are used to hearing since these individuals are not in essence “stealing” information and there is some likelihood that the numbers they use do not belong to anyone. (If they do, it is often not known at the time they are issued on the fake ID forms.) However, the law of odds states that at least some of these numbers are legitimate and registered to other individuals legally.

Of course, in most cases, the undocumented workers do not mean any harm, but if the Social Security number does happen to belong to someone else and the undocumented individual gets into monetary trouble, the victim still has the same credit problems to deal with as he or she would if targeted by a thief with malicious intentions.

This situation is just one more reason why you need to protect yourself from identity theft. You never know what could happen to your personal information if you don’t keep a close eye on it. Whether the theft of your personal information was intentional or not, you need to find out if someone is “pretending to be you” as soon as possible so that you can put a stop to it.

First, check your credit report and make sure that it is clean – free of errors, whether they be in your address, the spelling of your name, or more importantly, the charges and payments made on your credit account. If it’s not accurate, correct any errors by contacting the credit bureau in question and giving a detailed description of the problems. Next, enroll in a credit monitoring service or a full-fledged identity theft protection service. Taking these steps should be enough for you to know that you’re in good shape.