<prompt> Human: My mother, who was EXTREMELY abusive actually tried to kill me a little over two years ago, and Ive been living on my own since I was 17 as a result Im freshly 20 now. Im doing pretty good for myself right now -- I live in a duplex with my LT boyfriend, which is the first place Ive lived with MY name on the lease, I was just approved for medicaid, so Im getting some much-needed treatment, and now Im launching my business which may have a pretty nice windfall next week. My mother, being that shes my mother, has my social security number, and Ive already found shes operating the high school account she opened for me before I left home without my permission and likely using it for tax evasion purposes. Not only do I not want my social security footprint to be associated with illegal activity, but being that my life is starting to settle into some kind of stability, I dont want her to make any attempts at opening accounts under my name, or using my social to get into any of my accounts and take any of my money -- with it, Ill be able to pay off some debts and finally be debt-free and start saving for college, and buy more equipment to make a nice income for myself. My older cousin, whos dad, moms brother, is just like my mom advised that I get an Identity Protection Pin. He got one himself after his father used his pin without HIS permission, and he says that someone must know that pin to be able to use my social in any way. Will that actually protect me?I read online that if I change my social which would be one step in a long process to protect myself from her and take back my life, as shes been stalking me for years, I wont be able to get a passport, will have issue getting more government aid if I need it, and pretty much erase all of my job history up until this point. If I can avoid changing it, Id very much like to. What can I do to protect myself?TLDR: Thieving, abusive mother has my social security number. May be coming into quite a bit of money soon, and I dont want her stealing it -- what can I do short of changing my social, which has all sorts of other nasty side effects, can I do to protect myself? Ive heard of an Identity Protection Pin. Will it actually keep my finances safe?  <response>: Go to the bank and close your high school account. If it is technically hers, tell the bank to remove your name from it. 