People would be shocked to learn the Social Security Administration doesn't consider these thefts to be a crime. They only consider it a crime of somebody atempts to fraudulently obtain SS payouts with the stolen numbers.
It is illegal to use someone else's social security number to gain employment, run credit, etc.. But under the statute, you have to actually know that it is someone else's number.
The law should be changed so that using a fake number is illegal, regardless of whether or not it is assigned to another person.