Personal

There are a few situations in which you must provide your Social Security (SSN) number to a business, including

A Social Security number can be used to steal your identity (commonly called identity theft) to commit fraud, open new credit and bank accounts, get medical care/other benefits and obtain employment.

No. A real contest won’t ask for your Social Security number (SSN) over the phone (you’ll have to give it in writing).

The Social Security Administration will only issue a new Social Security number (SSN) in very specific or extreme situations, so it’s not likely that you’d be able to change yours.

Those rare situations in which they might change your SSN are if 

A Social Security number (SSN) is a nine digit identification number that has become a universal identifier for both the government and the private sector in the U.S.

Even if you owe a debt, you have rights about when and how a debt collector contacts you.