Basic (04-20)

RM 03816.001 Scrambled Earnings Cases—General Information

1. A. 

   Scrambled earnings are wages or Self Employment Income (SEI)for one NH that have been added to another NH's record. This usually results when earnings for one person are reported under an SSN assigned to another person having a similar or cross-referred surname.

2. B. 

   Often, the term “scramble” is incorrectly used when a person states that his earnings were reported with an incorrect SSN. The misuse of the term “scramble” is based on the erroneous idea that all earnings are added to the record on which they are reported. Actually, most incorrectly reported earnings items are placed in a suspense file because the reported surname does not agree with the surname on our records for the reported SSN.

3. C. 

   The following are major sources of possible scrambled earnings cases:

   1. 1. 

      Request for duplicate SSN in which the SSN furnished by an individual belongs to another individual with a similar surname.

   2. 2. 

      Forms SSA-7008 on which an individual lists two or more numbers, and scouting shows that one of the numbers belongs to another individual with a similar surname.

   3. 3. 

      Requests for statements of earnings that furnish SSN's belonging to other individuals with similar surnames.

   4. 4. 

      Field Office's (FO) in their day-to-day processing of SSN applications, unidentified earnings items, or claims.

   5. 5. 

      Wrong Number (WN) SS-5 cases received from the FO.

   6. 6. 

      Office of Central Operations (OCO) in day-to-day processing of exceptions and/or other clerical operations.

   7. 7. 

      IRS inquiries concerning two or more individuals with the same surname who used the same SSN on their income tax returns.

      NOTE: The routines for processing these cases are somewhat different from other scrambles. Specific instructions for IRS scrambles are covered in RM 03818.

   8. 8. 

      Replacement cards issued by SSA under the wrong SSN.

   9. 9. 

      SER/SSI Interface Project for which earnings posted to the record of an SSI recipient are identified and investigated. If the FO finds that another individual is using the SSI recipient's name and number, a scrambled earnings case is developed.