DALLAS, March 26 (UPI) -- Legislators in California and elsewhere are taking action to make it harder for identity thieves to access Social Security numbers.
Social Security numbers are highly prized by scam artists because they are a key to every American's personal finances. Although there are other ways to steal a person's identity, the Social Security number is considered the gold standard.
Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, North Dakota, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia enacted laws last year restricting the use of the numbers on driver's licenses, insurance cards and student ID's.
More bills are pending this year. In California, state Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, has a bill that would penalize businesses that release the Social Security numbers or personal information of a person without their permission.
More than 27 million Americans were victims of ID theft in the past five years at a cost of about $5 billion, according to a survey conducted by the Federal Trade Commission.
