Social Security Says I No Longer Exist

[MrSimms]

Jurisdiction

Colorado

When my mom was younger she got married. She divorced him and changed her last name back. She married my father and changed her last name again. Everything was fine for 30 years until one day she went to the DMV and they told her the Social Security office had flagged her for something. She went down to the social security office and found out that her Social is still assigned to the last name from her first marriage. She has been working, bought a home and paying social security under her current name for 30 years, however the social security office is saying they are looking into it and not getting back to her. She was fired from her job because she could not prove her identity, she can not get social security right now because of this whole situation and I am completely stumped. I've never heard of anything like this before. Any advise would help greatly. Thank you.

 

[flyingron]

Tell your mom to get every document she has and bring it to the local SS office (best to call first, many have irregular hours). They deal with this sort of thing all the time.

 

[army judge]

She was fired from her job because she could not prove her identity, she can not get social security right now because of this whole situation and I am completely stumped. I've never heard of anything like this before. Any advise would help greatly. Thank you.

I've heard of many times, especially 30-40 years ago.

It slacked a bit 20 years ago, and today it has disappeared.

Certain people would identify dead people, and then get the deceased's birth certificate and use the dead person's name as their new name.

Mom may also have been the victim of identity theft by one of the millions of foreign border invaders and visa interlopers.

Mom needs to scrutinize her credit bureau records.


In essence, one day the person is Joe Blow, a few days later Joe Blow has become Ronnie Ratt.

I am NOT saying your mother did this, but it has bene done.

There are variations to the scheme, but they all end with Mr. Someone Old becoming Mr. Another Person.

I've never heard of anything like this before. Any advise would help greatly. Thank you.

You might suggest to mother to order a certified copy of her birth certificate, a transcript of 30 years of her IRS records, 50 (or as many as she can recall) years of her Social Security records, her high school transcript, any church records, any life insurance records, any diplomas or degrees, any official training, library cards, voting records, any picture IDs she ever had, all of her employment records, etc...

If mom can't do any of that, help mom hire an immigration attorney.
Mom might be being fully honest with you.