eli5 Why do scammers always ask for the last 4 digits of your ssn instead of the the whole number, what can they do with the last 4 digits?
In: Economics
Your SSN is broken into three parts: area, sequence and serial.
The area (first three numbers) indicate where you were born (or initially issued your SSN). If someone knows this information, they don’t need the first three numbers of your SSN.
The sequence (next two) is based on when you were born. If someone knows when you were born, they don’t need this information.
The serial is unique to you and is almost impossible to guess simply from publicly available information. As such, it’s the most important part of your SSN to safeguard – and the most identifying.
So if I ask you “When and where were you born and what are you last four?”, I now know your entire SSN.
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