Posted on 08/18/2022 7:46:02 AM PDT by fwdude
A little background. My elderly singe mother lives locally, in her own home alone, with daily check-ins by relatives, household employees and friendly neighbors whom she compensates for help with her care.
A few years ago, she was contacted by someone who identified themselves as a Census worker. She was requesting financial information a little more detailed than the decennial census would require. Mom says that the lady paid her a personal visit to help her fill out the form. My mom is very kind and tender-hearted, which makes her a little blind to scams and quite naïve about many things. So, she accommodated this lady, who mom described as "very nice," and even showed her some of her financial documents. That was alarming enough, but mom said that she made a follow-up visit to go over her information.
I didn't think much about this until recently, but now I'm freaking out. I keep a pretty close watch over her accounts and finances and haven't noticed anything suspicious, but I'm beginning to think that her secure identity been compromised.
What is the best course of action to take at this point?
The Census Bureau employs people to visit homes that haven’t returned their forms, including the American Community Survey. I know one of these people and it is her full time job.
We received on of those surveys a few years ago. In addition to being intrusive, it was easy to see how the information would be used to create their socialist utopia. “How many miles do you drive to work?” In utopia, you and your co-workers will all live in a highrise right next door to your employment so you can walk to work, eliminating the need for even an electric car! Bur I still can’t determine why they need to know how many toilets we have.
Americans rightly expect to live their lives with a reasonable level of privacy. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects them from government searches unless there is some compelling reason for them. But the reasons for making the ACS mandatory are not at all compelling.
Agreed.
Put a freeze on your mom’s credit. I wouldn’t think she would be opening any new loan or credit card accounts if she is elderly. That will prevent someone from acquiring a loan in her name. That’s what we did with my elderly mother (with her permission).
Do census workers carry identification?
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Only interacted in one decennial, but they wore a laminated photo ID on a lanyard.
My first response would be - Get off my property.
During the Obama administration I got a booklet of forms to fill out from the census - very private and intrusive information. I ignored it and they continued to send me the form with more and more threatening letters.
I complained to my US Representative’s office and no more census.
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