Social Security Administration Offering Online Registrations

By ETHAN LEVINE (Patch Staff)

The Social Security Administration has gone digital.

The SSA recently launched a digital registration database it says will protect the identities of legitimate Social Security recipients from identity thieves hoping to poach their benefits.

According to the SSA, the online registration database allows Marylanders who are still working but contributing to Social Security to keep track of their earnings, verify their earnings and even get an estimate on their future benefits.

Maryland residents currently receiving Social Security checks can get a letter with proof of benefits, enable direct deposit, get replacement Medicare cards, and more.

But what makes the online registration database a true blessing is its advanced security measures. The system prevents anyone who may have acquired your Social Security number from stealing your identity to receive your benefits, thanks to additional financial questions you’ll have to answer when you register in the database. Those questions are relevant to your financial history, and are questions only you would be able to answer.

You can even set your account to make you enter the exact amount of Social Security money you receive each month as a second password, furthering your security measures.

The SSA is also alerting citizens to “phishing” attacks made by identity thieves who pretend to be the administration in order to trick you into giving them your personal information. The SSA says it will only ever send e-mails from a .government address and links in said e-mails will only ever go to .gov websites.

Any suspicious e-mails should be ignored and forwarded to phishing-report@us-cert.gov.