Hsieh Tiao-ken (謝條根), a resident in Taipei County’s Taishan Township (泰山), is troubled by his national ID number “A123456789,” which is often used as an example by government agencies or used by others as a fake ID number.
“Please stop playing around [with my number],” Hsieh said.
The 53-year-old man was born in Taipei City’s Neihu District (內湖) and moved to Taishan more than a decade ago.
PHOTO: KUO YEN-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES
Though many people said they would love to have Hsieh’s ID number because it’s easy to remember, Hsieh said he is often troubled by it.
Several years ago, a 15-year-old young man used the number to apply for membership with an adult Web site for the sex trade.
The police later came to Hsieh as the online account was registered under Hsieh’s national ID number.
The sex trade probe almost ruined his family, Hsieh said.
That was not all, Hsieh said, adding that he often received notices from tax collectors asking him to pay extra taxes because they found more real estate registered under Hsieh’s name than he reported.
He has also received many court summons asking him to stand in court for cases of which he had never heard.
Because of the constant misuse of his ID number, he said his applications for credit cards or buying insurance have been rejected because credit card or insurance companies suspected that he was faking the ID number or because of his “bad credit.”
To avoid all the troubles, Hsieh said he now uses a cellphone number registered under his wife’s name and has given up on applying for credit cards.
Hsieh said he had thought about applying to change his ID number, but when he gave it a second thought, he thought there would be too much trouble since he would have to change everything registered under his name.
“I take going to the police and the courthouse as opportunities for me to increase my knowledge about laws,” he said.
Hsieh said he now only hopes that household registration offices can help prove that he is the true owner of ID number A123456789 when he gets in trouble for it, adding that he wishes Internet companies would properly verify identities before approving an account to save him from trouble.
Taishan Township Household Registration Office director Chen Tung-ling (陳冬玲) said the office could assist Hsieh in changing his ID number if he still wishes to do so.
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