Question #5 is, “What is your Social Security Number or Social Insurance Number?”
The SSN in the USA and the Social Insurance Number (SIN) in Canada are national identifiers.
In Canada, it is rare to find somebody with two Social Insurance Numbers (SIN). Where this happens it may be a case of clerical error or a reference to a former SIN appropriated by an identity thief. Both reasons are extremely rare. In thirty years I have only encountered this once. The Canadian SIN is used as an identifier less than the SSN is in the USA. In Canada it is primarily used as an identifier between the person and government.
In the USA, the case is somewhat different. When searching through database aggregators such as IRB, it is common to find a subject referenced with two or three Social Security Numbers (SSN). Here are some of the reasons a person may show-up with multiple SSN’s:
- a wife’s or child’s SSN could end up with father’s name
- a parent’s SSN could show up with a child
- the subject bought something with someone else and the SSNs could end up with each other’s name
- the database producer is relating several SSN’s to one address
- an error by whoever entered the data
You need to understand these national identifiers and be able to determine if they are valid or not, and determine if the person using the number is the person to whom it was issued.
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