December 10, 2018 – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has joined a bipartisan coalition of 43 state attorneys general urging the Social Security Administration to comply with a new provision of federal law intended to protect Americans from the growing problem of synthetic identity theft. Such fraud occurs when criminals use real Social Security numbers along with fictitious names and birthdates to create fake identities, which are then used to apply for credit cards or loans.

In a letter from the National Association of Attorneys General to Nancy Berryhill, the acting commissioner of the SSA, Attorney General Paxton and his counterparts urged her to prioritize verification systems to accept electronic signatures or other verified methods so that financial institutions and others can quickly verify identity, or flag identity theft in real-time.

“Our residents lose thousands of dollars a year and suffer from ruined credit scores, as well as a general sense of anxiety regarding their identity,” Attorney General Paxton wrote. “Having a nimble system to respond to warning signs of identity theft, and to prevent theft from happening in the first place, is not only good government, it is good service to some of the most vulnerable members of the public.”

By KVEO.com
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