| Comment Number: | 531096-00234 |
| Received: | 9/4/2007 11:59:03 AM |
| Organization: | Crockett & Juarez |
| Commenter: | Brad Crockett |
| State: | TX |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Private Sector Use of SSNs |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
I am a licensed private investigator in San Antonio, Texas. I specialize in finding missing heirs. If I did not have access to Social Security numbers - I would not be able to locate the extremely high percentage of missing heirs that I currently do. In addition the cost of finding these missing heirs without access to Social Security numbers would be much more expensive and perhaps cost prohibitive in many cases. For example lets say that I am looking for a missing heir named Mary Garcia with a DOB of 12/11/1966. She left her parents home in San Antonio, Texas at 18 years of age and broke off all contact with her friends and family. Mary Garcia was married at 19 years of age to a John Smith in San Francisco, CA. She left him when she was 22 years of age and shacked up with a Juan Rodriquez in Oakland, CA and although she never officially divorced John Smith – she started using the last name of Rodriquez. There are probably hundreds of women named Mary Garcia with the 12/11/1966 DOB. There are probably hundreds of women named Mary Smith with the 12/11/1966 DOB. There are probably hundreds of women named Mary Rodriquez with the 12/11/1966 DOB. In this case and so many others a common name and DOB are not precise identifiers. With access to the Social Security number of Mary Garcia – I would not have to spend the time and money to research the marriage to John Smith and the shacking up with Juan Rodriquez to locate her. Without access to the Social Security number of Mary Garcia I probably would not have been able to find her and her inheritance would eventually be at the Texas State Comptrollers Office Unclaimed Property Division with all the other unclaimed properties under the name Mary Garcia and never claimed.