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Yes it’s long if reading is an issue for you avoid this at all costs.
Gerardo Luviano is looking for somebody to rent his Social Security number. Mr. Luviano, 39, obtained legal residence in the United States almost 20 years ago. But these days, back in Mexico, teaching beekeeping at the local high school in this hot, dusty town in the southwestern part of the country, Mr. Luviano is not using his Social Security number. So he is looking for an illegal immigrant in the United States to use it for him – providing a little cash along the way. “I’ve almost managed to contact somebody to lend my number to,” Mr. Luviano said. “My brother in California has a friend who has crops and has people that need one.”

Mr. Luviano’s pending transaction is merely a blip in a shadowy yet vibrant underground market. Virtually undetected by American authorities, operating below the radar in immigrant communities from coast to coast, a secondary trade in identities has emerged straddling both sides of the Mexico-United States border. The number of people participating in the illegal deals is impossible to determine accurately. But it is clearly significant, flourishing despite efforts to combat identity fraud.

“There are people who live in Mexico who take $4,000 or $5,000 in unemployment in the off season,” said Jorge Eguiluz, a labor contractor working in the fields around Stockton, Calif. “They just lend the number during the season.” The deals also generate cash in other ways.

Most identity lending happens within an extended family, or among immigrants from the same hometown. But it is still a hard-nosed transaction. Illegal immigrant workers usually earn so little they are owed an income tax refund at the end of the year. The illegal immigrant “working the number” will usually pay the real owner by sharing the tax refund.

Since legal American residents can lose their green cards if they stay outside the country too long, for those who have returned to Mexico it is useful to have somebody working under their identity north of the border. “There are people who live in Mexico who take $4,000 or $5,000 in unemployment in the off season,” said Jorge Eguiluz, a labor contractor working in the fields around Stockton, Calif. “They just lend the number during the season.”

The deals also generate cash in other ways. Most identity lending happens within an extended family, or among immigrants from the same hometown. But it is still a hard-nosed transaction. Illegal immigrant workers usually earn so little they are owed an income tax refund at the end of the year. The illegal immigrant “working the number” will usually pay the real owner by sharing the tax refund. “Sometimes the one who is working doesn’t mind giving all the refund, he just wants to work,” said Fernando Rosales, who runs a shop preparing income taxes in the immigrant-rich enclave of Huntington Park, Calif. “But others don’t, and sometimes they fight over it. We see that all the time. It’s the talk of the place during income tax time.”

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