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The General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General (OIG) presented testimony on the misuse of Social Security numbers to the House. The OIG reported that more than 60,000 allegations of misuse of Social Security numbers was reported to his office in 1999. About half of those cases were attempts to defraud the Social Security Administration (SSA) by collecting excess benefits or misrepresenting wages and earnings that established eligibility for benefits. The other cases involved fraud in the private sector, where Social Security numbers were used in identity theft and other fraudulent activity. The GAO reported that there is no law restricting the use of Social Security numbers by private businesses for identification purposes, which makes it much easier to obtain these numbers.

SSA has stated that the expanded use and misuse of SSNs poses an administrative burden for the agency, since widespread use of SSNs as identifiers requires SSA to meet more requests for SSN verification from employers and government agencies, and the disclosure of SSNs increases those instances in which the agency must issue individuals new SSNs when the old ones are being misused by another party. To reduce the opportunities for fraud, the OIG recommended that the SSA stop mailing Social Security cards to post office boxes, ask for independent verification when non-residents request Social Security cards, and stiffen fines for the sale or other misuse of Social Security numbers.