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by gondo 2504 days ago
If you would provide the same, but still random, SSN to the insurance company and hospital, what that be a problem? How would they ever find out it is not your real SSN?
2 comments

First of all that would be insurance fraud, and it would be illegal.

Secondly, that wouldn't work, the insurance company already knows your SSN. If your insurance is provided through your employer your employer already gave it to your insurance company when they set up your benefits. You need to give your employer your real SSN to pay taxes. If your insurance is provided through the government (medicaid, medicare, tricare) then the government already knows your SSN. You BEST not be giving the government a fake SSN to collect benefits, that's all sorts of illegal.

Is it fraud without the intent to defraud?

>Secondly, that wouldn't work, the insurance company already knows your SSN

It could totally work, it’s really easy to get a card open with another SSN and then accurint or whatever the insurance company uses will just return multiple SSNs.

Thanks for the info. It seems like plenty of organizations legally know the SSN. I am amazed that US government considers SSN to be private.
It really depends on how the SSN is used, but using a false SSN is considered fraud.

If the party requesting it is using it for billing and collections, and you fail to pay a bill and they send it to collections, and subsequently report the collection to a credit agency, then it is a clear case of fraud. If you randomly happen to pick a valid SSN, then you are committing identity theft in addition to fraud.

If they are just using it as a Unique ID, they may not ever know that it's fake. None-the-less it is still fraud.