Everybody you ever sent a check to has access to your real signature. Do you trust all those people?

Nobody ever checks to make sure it was you that signed the check, or the application, or whatever form. All they need and use is the account number, your tax number, or the ID card.

Test it out. Sign your next check with your off hand and see if it clears. Make up a new signature and try it out. Nobody checks, nobody cares.

The crooks that steal your identity don't care what your signature looks like. Give them the account numbers they need, and they submit signed applications and get service just like it was you in person.

Signature card at the bank? Do you think they pull the card to check your signature every time a check comes through? The bank signature card is just smoke and mirrors to make you feel secure. It's stored away in a deep dark corner, never to be seen again.

The two biggest dangers I've seen for ID theft are courthouse records and medical records.

Anybody can browse mortgage records, deeds, and other important stuff at the courthouse, as all that stuff is public record. Lots of those documents require the SSN or tax ID number on them.

My wife and I married in Las Vegas. Standing in line to get the application, I noticed that every clerk had a stack of completed applications in front of him, face up, with SSN's plainly visible to everybody that cared to look. We refused to put the number on the form. The head clerk was ready with a form that said it was required and no number no license. Screw'em, we saved a further confrontation by just making up numbers. Also due to our outburst all the stacks of applications were turned over. We got grins of appreciation from our line mates.

Every doctor's office and hospital you deal with, among the first questions they ask is "What's your social?". They key everything on the SSN, and those papers lay around on desks for anybody in the office to see.

I tell them my SSN is not in their records and to use my insurance number. "Oh we have to have your social!" they say. Nope, you don't. My medical insurance and all my medical records are sans social. How did I manage that? I told them NO.

I was professionally licensed in two states without disclosing my SSN, when the biggest font on the front of the form was the place to put the SSN. SSN REQUIRED, it said. BS, I just said no. Also I sent a copy of the law that says the SSN may not be used for ID and that no agency can refuse service or benefits for failing to provide the SSN. Just say no.