>>The reality is that SSN’s are not random numbers that you can make up.<<
The article doesn’t say that she used random numbers; it says she “made up” the SSN she’s using. She could have had a vague idea of what the numbers were and simply added her own.
I make up telephone numbers all the time to give to store clerks who ask. I know what area codes, obviously, there are in my area plus I have a decent idea of what exchange codes are used, plus I use variations of numbers I’ve had in the past. I’m not going to say my phone number is (888) 911-9111. I have little doubt I’ve given someone else’s phone number to a clerk.
You can't go and get a drivers license (like she did) on the vague assumption that the SSN you chose might match someone of your geenral age and description when it is run through the state computer.
She bought an SSN.
Your made-up telephone numbers are no big deal to you when you are lying to a store clerk, but if it were the DMV or the IRS or some other authority with the ability to have you punished, you would not give a made-up number.
Especially if you were already a felon on the run.
You would have to give a plausible number that checked out upon further scrutiny.