Who knows really. You can get obituaries everyday in the newspaper now? And SSN’s are readily available online through social security death index once the people are deceased.
I remember reading how people took on other identities in those times but I can’t remember how. SSN’s at one time were on personal checks. Probably now with computerized Social security Obama would nothave gotten away with it.
All this makes me feel like we’re living in a parellel universe and our real country is out there somewhere...
I’m 32 and can remember SSNs on checks for convenience. If you didn’t have it printed on it, you wrote it.
My SSN was also my driver’s license number when I turned 16 before I had it changed.