In 1938, wallet manufacturer the E. H. Ferree company in Lockport, New York decided to promote its product by showing how a Social Security card would fit into its wallets. A sample card, used for display purposes, was inserted in each wallet. Company Vice President and Treasurer Douglas Patterson thought it would be a clever idea to use the actual SSN of his secretary, Mrs. Hilda Schrader Whitcher.

Although the snafu gave her a measure of fame, it was mostly a nuisance. The FBI even showed up at her door to ask her about the widespread use of her number. In later years she observed: "They started using the number. They thought it was their own. I can't understand how people can be so stupid. I can't understand that."

One embarrassing episode was the fault of the Social Security Board itself. In 1940 the Board published a pamphlet explaining the new program and showing a facsimile of a card on the cover. The card in the illustration used a made-up number of 219-09-9999. Sure enough, in 1962 a woman presented herself to the Provo, Utah Social Security office complaining that her new employer was refusing to accept her old Social Security number--219-09-9999. When it was explained that this could not possibly be her number, she whipped out her copy of the 1940 pamphlet to prove that yes indeed it was her number!

Ha! Been using this wallet card number for years to put down for businesses that want the last 4 of your SS# for "security" reasons when you sign up for a service.

1120 is fantastic for adding a layer to your privacy.

Hell, as long as you can remember them, use ANY random 4 numbers. You mom and dad's birth months, your height in millimeters.. anything.

Your Social Security number is for government use only anyhow.

Business data scraping can get stuffed.

I wish we could rewind time, have them use 123-45-6789, and see how many people still tried to use it.

I guess when the consumers you're targeting are apparently the type to need a demonstration of how a card fits in a wallet, you shouldn't expect them to understand that that card is in fact solely for the purpose of that demonstration

Whenever I visit a grocery store that requires a phone number for member number it’s (area) 867-5309

The first cards were issued in the fall of 1936. I wonder how many people were using this number deliberately because they didn't trust the government.

There’s only a billion possible nine digit number. There’s no algorithm to them. There might have been some level of regional allocation since my sister and I have the same first 3 digits, but I doubt that’s still a thing. Also TINs issued to corporate entities also draw from that numbering system, so there are significantly less than a billion possible SSNs

There’s about 350 million people in the US.

Just make up a nine digit number that doesn’t start with an 9 (IIRC TINs use the range of numbers starting with 9) and you have a better than 1 in 3 chance of getting it right.

Pro tip - if you need to make up a fake SSN for whatever reason, make one of the digit groups all zeroes and it will be invalid. E.g 123-00-4567

Remember to fund/develop your public infrastructure.