* Not stolen until you enter it into the website that is... lol

I checked my SSN and it said it was fine, so I joined their service. I was surprised when I got an email from them a few minutes later stating that my SSN has been compromised by a website called "StolenIDSearch".

Thank god I signed up with StolenIDSearch to know I shouldn't sign up with horrible websites such as StolenIDSearch.

"That's right folks... check to see if your ID has been stolen. For added security, please enter a valid credit card number along with your social security number. And a phone number. And your mothers maden name. And your name. You know what, you had better just tell us everything about yourself just to be safe."

so... you make fun of it for being innately stupid (and you were right), then you go ahead and give in? wtf.

This means they're obviously in possession of a list of social security numbers. Wouldn't possession of such a list be illegal?

Honestly, if you fall for this, I say good riddance. In the age where we have seem millions of internet scams, you deserve what you get for trolling the internet without a clue how to properly use it and spot shit like this.

Who precisely creates the "stolen" list?

Yeah, who reports a SSN "stolen?" The people who stole it?

If my car were stolen, I (the victim) would be the one reporting the theft. And if I were a victim of identity theft, who would report that?

Fundamentally flawed idea used to gather SSNs (from users of the site) for God-knows-what.

Says secured with Verisign, yet there's no secure connection. Also entered 55555555 as an SSN and it says it's stolen.

What a joke...

I entered 000-00-0000, and whaddya know...my SS number had been COMPROMISED! I suspect you could enter any bogus SS number as long as the format was correct and get the same result.

Pathetic.

lol, dwayne dibbly. great username choice.

I wondered if anyone would get the reference from Red Dwarf. I'm not actually a life form the evolved from Lister's cat, nor do I have buck teeth; I've never played Better Than Life, and I don't own a thermos, but I am a 100% geek :)

Richard Nixon's identity has been stolen too! Even the most powerful among us aren't safe!

Please, someone, direct me to a service or a product that will mitigate my risk!

Oh the irony of that title. Of course it says your identity has been comprimised after you enter it your identity has been comprimised.

Put in a bunch of bogus credit card numbers, all were fine... but they wern't even proper numbers either. The lazieness of the site.

I don't see what all the fuss is about, you could enter any set of numbers as xxx-xx-xxxx and it could very well be someone's actual SSN. I don't see much risk unless you provide identifying information such as name, DOB, etc.

I laughed as soon as I saw that.

Off topic: "DWAYNE DIBLEY?!" My boyfriend just got the series with this ep for Christmas. I loved that episode!

568-47-0008
Is the SSN for TV's Homer Simpson. Sadly Homer's number has been previously stolen...

It does seem very scam like but the BBC had a full interview with the sites creators and they said it was safe. Didn't say how they got the numbers though!

Smoke me a kipper I'll be back for breakfast.

As long as you're not entering any other personally identifiable information, putting in a SSN by itself is probably not a big deal. There's a slew of SSN's on the Social Security Death Index, and I'd be willing to bet that if you picked any random 9-digit number that the odds are 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 that it's a valid SSN. An SSN is not going to be of any use without other info to go with it.

That headline initially looks like you're endorsing that site but I think Acambras makes the best point. How the hell do they know if your number has been comprimised. You're the only one that will report it, and if you do, then you don't need this stupid site.

Lets try Donald R. DeCicco's SSN.

let's be clear:

there is a difference between a stolen identity and one that is given away,

If this isn't a phishing site I'd be amazed...I can't believe Consumerist is even implying it's anything but.

this is a horrible idea. you're doing a major disservice to yourself and your readers by linking to this site. Even if it is legit, this is very bad form.

on another note, but SSN of 123-45-6789 appears to have been stolen.....

Ha, I don't know that I would be willing to search for my own SSN....these days search engines track way too much info about you.

Sure.
Please give that site a valid SSN to 'search' AKA store in their database for later selling.

Oh crap! My ssn is 078-05-1120 and someone stole it!

Hey, AnnC! That's *MY* SSN!

SHHHH!

You guys, shut up! It's a front for an NSA sting operation! If you blog about it, the terrorists win!

Really, who in their right mind is checking this on a non government site?

I was about to call that this was a definite fake, but then you can see the BBC program, and the Trust-E which is for their parent company TrustedID, and their VeriSign seal. I don't know abou this one now...

My SSN was stolen, but they said that I could buy it back for 500 dollars.

All it takes to get a VeriSign seal is money, a mailing address and a phone number.

Most thieves can get their hands on all of those things.

Seeing as my SSN was my university ID and printed on every damn thing, including grades publicly posted grades and schedules, along with my name, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if my number is being used by someone.

However my identity is amazingly undesirable, so if someone wants to steal it, they're in for a fun time.

Hello Everyone,

In the past few days, we've seen thousands of people make comments about our StolenID Search service. We appreciate everyone who sees value in the service as well as those who have questions.

We feel that it makes good sense to help address all those questions in one common forum. Please visit our TrustedID blog (link below), as a venue to find answers to your questions/concerns related to our new service.
http://blog.trustedid.com/?p=311

Thanks,
Scott Mitic
CEO, TrustedID