Posted on 11/30/2010 4:31:58 AM PST by Bad~Rodeo
Is using a forged Social Security Number -- but your own name -- to obtain employment or buy a car an identity theft crime? Lately, U.S. courts are saying it's not.
The most recent judicial body to take on the issue, the Colorado Supreme Court, ruled last month that a man who used his real name but someone else's Social Security number to obtain a car loan was not guilty of "criminal impersonation," overturning convictions by lower courts.
That follows a ruling last year by the U.S. Supreme Court that a Mexican man who gave a false SSN to get a job at an Illinois steel plant could not be convicted under federal identity theft laws because he did not knowingly use another person's identifying number. The ruling overturned an opinion by a federal appeals court in St. Louis -- and contradicted earlier findings by circuit courts in the Southeast, upper Midwest and the Gulf states.
It hasn’t been a shutout for identity theft prosecutors, however. In July, an Iowa state appeals court came to the opposite conclusion, affirming a lower court decision that a man who used a California woman's SSN to obtain employment was guilty of breaking that state's identity theft law.
Identity theft can take many forms, but one of the most vexing is so-called "SSN-only" ID theft. In it, an imposter uses a victim's SSN --- sometimes purchased from a broker, sometimes nine digits pulled out of thin air -- to obtain credit or to provide necessary documentation to obtain work. In many cases, SSN "borrowing" is successful and the imposter goes undetected for years.
At the heart of all these cases is a simple question: Does the mere use of an anonymous victim's SSN break identity theft laws?
Mari Frank, a California-based lawyer
(Excerpt) Read more at redtape.msnbc.com ...
That’ll come as a relief to all the boilerplant clip joints here and abroad, as well as illegal aliens. Ponzi schemes and why they fail, reason number 402. Thanks Bad~Rodeo.
It is identity theft pure and simple. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the victim or you made up the SSN. I am appalled that our COURTS no longer care about the RULE OF LAW!
I think everybody should just use 000-00-0000 from now on, it obviously doesn’t belong to anyone and works just as well as anything else.
The integrity of an unbiased judiciary being a cornerstone of civilization, how can the citizens respect a judicial system that repeatedly makes such illogical rulings? And don’t get me started on Holder’s “Justice” Department.
I am appalled that our COURTS no longer care about the RULE OF LAW!
If your SSN is not part of your identity, then everyone (credit bureaus, governemt agencies, etc) that use it to identify you need to stop doing that. If they can’t identify you without it, then it’s part of your identity.
Two Texans busted in bogus ID operation in NJ
NORTH BERGEN, NJ -- July 21, 2006 -- Pelcastre brothers, Angel and Jorge, Dallas, Texas, were a walking threat to US national security, expert document forgers who, for a few thousand dollars, could give anyone a new identity, authorities said. The Texas brothers turned a NJ hotel room into a business office and were readying a massive cache of fake Social Security cards for delivery to a local NJ identity broker.
The Texas brothers were a "one-stop shop" for a myriad of fake US documents, including birth certificates, Social Security cards, driver's licenses for any state in the US, passports and resident alien cards, said state police. Officers happened upon two cars bearing Texas plates in a NJ hotel parking lot. Authorities wouldn't identify the NJ hotel by name for fear it would spark retribution. The Drug Interdiction Task Force, regularly runs checks.
The Texas brothers were followed to a NJ office supply store nearby where they purchased computer supplies. Officers then followed the Texans to a NJ storage facility in Secaucus, NJ, where the Texans loaded several boxes into a car. One of them stood lookout. Authorities approached the Texas brothers when they returned to the NJ hotel and questioned them separately. The Texas brothers consented to a search.
Police recovered laminating sheets with built-in security features, pages of blank documents waiting for fake names and information, finished documents, computers and software to create the fake IDs.
All told, the haul was worth about $500,000 on the street. Police also recovered $6,000 in cash, which was the first payment from a NJ fake document broker for a shipment of 500 Social Security cards.
They are doing this because Hussein is said to have used different SSN’s. Looks like more details on that are about to come out and MSM is laying the ground work to make it no big deal.
ping
Only if you are using it for identification.
BINGO!
Yeah... but what kind of a credit rating does 000-00-0000 have?
setting precedents for the big 0?
Makes my day when I see somebody else who gets it.
Using another's SS# to apply for a loan is, in effect, claiming to be that person.
Heck, even ARNOLD can run for President now.
To the criminals in black robes who sold out America,
there is NO LAW that will survive their treason
to save the Kenyan Imposter with no documentation.
That is good to know for purposes of bank reports to the IRS for loans and cash transfers over $5000.
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