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Employment Data Freeze with E-Verify
Employment identity theft is a type of identity theft that occurs when someone steals your Social Security number (SSN) and other personally identifiable information to apply for a job in your name.
This usually occurs when the fraudulent applicant has been disqualified from working, and below are some possible scenarios:
- They may have difficulty passing a background check
- They have been incarcerated
- They simply have a poor employment history
How could this affect you?
- An employer that has hired an individual who is fraudulently using another person’s identity thief may report their wages to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), meaning that you, the victim, owe taxes on income you didn’t earn.
- Unreported wages attributed to your SSN and other tax discrepancies that often result from identity theft may trigger an IRS audit.
- Your Social Security benefits may also be adjusted based on the income falsely attributed to you. Victims can spend hours recovering from employment identity theft and working to restore their identity.
How can you protect yourself from this type of identity theft?
Lock your SSN with E-Verify
E-Verify is a U.S. government service used by employers to confirm eligibility of employees to work in the U.S. The information entered by the employers as provided by employees, is compared against government records to verify an individual’s identity and employment eligibility.
E-Verify allows you to Self-Lock your SSN, preventing employers from hiring a job applicant who is fraudulently using your identity. You can unlock your SSN at your discretion.
How to Use Self Lock?
- To access Self Lock, you must be logged in to your my E-Verify account.
- Select questions you can easily answer, because you will need to answer them again to verify your identity if you receive an E-Verify Tentative Non-confirmation (mismatch) due to Self Lock.
- When you are about to start a new job with an E-Verify employer, you should log into your account and unlock your SSN.
Additional Resources
Last modified: 06/16/2025
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