The Dallas Independent School District has been making up fake Social Security Numbers for foreign hires for years, even after being told in 2004 by the state’s education board to stop because it’s illegal. The numbers were meant to “expedite” the hiring process and get the employees on payroll, but they found their way onto Department of Homeland Security and IRS forms (which are kept in-district but shared with feds upon request), were used for criminal background checks, and in at least 26 cases were numbers in use by real people.

The Dallas Morning News doesn’t mention whether or not the DISD will be contacting the people who have had their SSNs appropriated, but they did offer this detail:

The DISD-issued Social Security numbers began with “200” – a prefix assigned to people in Pennsylvania, and Mr. Phillips’ office noted that many ended with sequential numbers.

In general, though, with the exception of the occasional criminal background check, the fake SSNs were supposedly kept away from any legitimate use, and even if your SSN fits the description above the odds are low anything bad has happened. We’re just amazed at the school district’s monumentally bad judgment.

“Dallas ISD faulted for using fake Social Security numbers” [Dallas Morning News] (Thanks to AttorneyWrangler!)
(Photo: Getty)

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