To answer your questions about identity theft, AN, I suppose one can use a minor’s SSN to apply for credit, etc. Since a minor doesn’t really NEED to use their SSN yet, when they become an adult and run their credit reports, they will find out someone else used their SSN to open new credit accounts and pretended to be them when they were too young to take out any credit. I imagine this could take awhile to clear up.
I would presume persons using a decedent’s SSN could attempt to take out credit in that decedent’s name and get away with it for awhile or even indefinitely. This would depend on how long the SSN-holder has been dead, their age at time of death and whether their estate was still open.
Note that my experience with this buyer “with an assumed name” dates back to 1991, prior to US employers’ mandatory use of Form I-9, the internet, FICO scores, etc. I’m not sure someone could get away with this for years, anymore, like she did. I kinda felt sorry for her at the time because she would never be able to collect the substantial SS she and her employer(s) deposited into the “system” under her “assumed name.” She had absolutely NO IDEA that buying a property (ESP under a “govm’t program”) was this involved. In addition, I think she would have returned to the Phillipines to work after she couldn’t get her visa renewed but for her minor son.
