Hello all, this is my first post. I’ve been lurking for some time and am happy to be here!
My eldest son has applied to Fordham. We received an email asking for a copy of his actual social security card. It says we did not provide his SS# and because we had not provided it we now need to provide a copy of his actual card. However, we used the common app/FAFSA/CSS and no other colleges said we did not provide his SS #. I did call the number given on the email ( which said it came from the Fordham financial aid office) and the man said just my providing his SS number alone would not be enough–it needed to be a copy of the actual card and he gave me a number to send it by “secure fax.”. But he had no answer when I asked why the number alone was not sufficient.
This seems a little odd to me? I’ve never been asked for the actual card–a number alone has always been good enough for taxes etc. Why have no other colleges asked for this? He has even been accepted into another college and applied there after Fordham. We’ve had no requests from the college that has accepted him or colleges where he applied but has not yet heard back from that would indicate we somehow omitted his SS #.
Has this happened to anyone else? I guess my concern is this is a scam somehow and not originating with Fordham itself. The email said it was from the Fordham financial aid office, not Fordham admissions. I did call Fordham directly to verify the request but only was able to leave a message. I called on Wednesday and so far have not heard back.
With so many scams these days, I would not give a copy of the SS # or SS card to anyone unless I knew exactly who I was dealing with. Many scammers use very authentic emails or letterheads. Don’t do anything until you talk to someone at the university. Was the # you called the same as the Fordham Financial Aid # that is listed?
Honourstudent, that is a great question as to whether the number I called matched a number from Fordham’s website-- I will check that in the morning.
4kidsdad, our last name is a very simple one (not Smith but about as simple). Hard to believe it could be a problem with that. And my son is a US citizen so there should not be any issues with that. And even if there were issues with either one of those things–it seems odd to clarify it by needing to see his ss card itself. And the email said the problem was simply that we had left the number off the application itself, nit that they had any doubts about my kid’s name or citizenship status.
It just seems very strange to me that, even if we had somehow left the ss # off the application, and the FAFSA, that the remedy for that is that college needs to see the actual card as opposed to just having me give them the number.
Of course if this is a scam I would think they could do a lot of damage with just the number by itself and not need the actual card itself. So that alone argues against it being a scam…
Update: the phone number is the same. So it is a legitimate request/not a scam. I still do not understand why they need the actual card and the number alone won’t suffice. But I appreciate all the replies
I have worked in an industry where we come in contact with SS fraud on a regular basis. SS cards are horrible as proof of anything as they are commonly forged to produce documentation for various fraudulent activity.
My guess is that someone else has used the same SS and they are trying to determine who is telling the truth.
One of the most common ways this happens is a form of synthetic fraud where a valid number is purloined and ‘worked’ when the actual owner is a child/youth. Most of us do not typically check on our children’s SSN until it is too late. It is not unusual at all to find that someone else has been fraudulently using a SSN for years unbeknownst to the owner. Often this happens as an immigration scheme. The fraudsters sell the SSN to illegal immigrants who often believe they have legit documentation. They can lead otherwise unremarkable lives, but are using someone else’s ID. Then comes the day when the real owner and the fraudulent user cross paths. (often comes trying to obtain credit, but school ID is another likely scenario).
If this were a scam and they already have the number, the card is really of little value. The sad thing is that if the school thinks seeing a copy of the ‘actual’ card is helpful, they are sadly mistaken.
Good luck. I hope your child is not a victim of this type of identity theft.
Torveaux, wow that is a disturbing possibility. Thank you for posting so I can look into it
ayylmao1, glad to hear we are not the only ones! Maybe it is just something fairly standard for Fordham and not a sign something is wrong? Good luck to your child getting into Fordham
Sounds like an issue in the FA office if more than one person received this email. And reassuring that it isn’t some more serious issue such as Torveaux brought up. And if it were that I don’t think they would have said “we didn’t get your SSN”, they probably would have said “there is a problem with your SSN”. But still worth checking out to make sure everything is good.
I am so glad you posted this (original poster). I have the same reaction, and we received the same email. No other college requires this and the Common App takes your work for it (i.e.: you type it in, rather than attaching a copy of a SS card). I hope Fordham possibly sees this. Excited to attend, but this is a little goofy since no other university requires it.
The email is from the FA aide office. My son had the same request. We had to claim his account on the Fordham website and then we uploaded SS card and then was able to check that it was received within two days. The email said that the could not access his FAFSA and CSS profile without it. They said they needed access for financial aide packet. They did download both FAFSA and CSS profile.
While it is most likely true that they cannot access the FAFSA or CSS profile without the SS number, it is definitely NOT necessary to have a copy of the card. My kids applied to about 2 dozen schools between them and not ONE needed to see a card to access the information.
On the other hand, there’s no real harm in showing the card if that’s what they want.
