We all should know that the fraudulent use of social security cards is a major reason behind identity theft and fraud. We have previously written about this occurrence and now there are lawmakers hoping to curb identity theft through new Social Security cards.

Two Illinois congressmen, US Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL) and US Representative Peter Roskam (R-IL) are co-sponsors of a bill that would take a step in the right direction to combat ID theft and greatly aid in ID theft protection. The bill is to increase the security features of the Social Security cards.

The legislation proposes that the new Social Security cards feature a photograph and a fingerprint of the person whom the card is issued to. There would also be an embedded computer chip, bar code and magnetic strip. These new ID theft protection cards would be modeled after the Common Access Card, which is issued by the Department of Defense to active military reserve members and their families.

Current Social Security cards have limited (as in none) security features, and obviously have no photo or biometric data. These new Social Security cards would be a vast improvement over the ratty paper ones that are issued currently and help to protect against identity theft.

Representative Roskam points out that not only is more than $49 billion a year lost due to ID theft, but employers report the use of 1.4 million Social Security numbers that simply to not exist. In other words, they are bogus, fake Social Security numbers on Social Security cards that can be purchased for anywhere from $200 to $500 each.

The new Social Security cards, not only would be used to combat ID theft, but they would enable employers to verify employees’ Social Security numbers very easily. Something that obviously doesn’t exist now with the current Social Security cards.

The new legislation would require anyone over 15 years of age to be issued a new card. Production costs on the new cards would be about $8 per card, which is sharply up for the current cost of 50 cents. We feel that the added cost would greatly benefit the credit fraud protection cause and give us the ID theft protection that we all deserve.