Identity Thieves May Claim Their 'share' from the Diseased

As the identity thieves are working on new methods of defrauding people, the thefts of identities of deceased persons are on the rise. Generally the relatives of the deceased person do not act swiftly to complete the paperwork due to emotional stress and the thieves take the benefit of such delays.

It is common for such thieves to search the obituary column of newspapers. Many details like full name of the person, date of birth and the name of the hospital in which the person died can be obtained easily. After getting such details, the thieves try to access the database of that hospital to get more information like social security number of the deceased person. There is another way also available for the thieves - checking the social security death index to find out information on persons died recently.

Most of the thieves try to make quick buck by using this information. However some 'advanced' thieves will apply for fresh credit to make more money. They may sell this information to illegal immigrants also to impersonate the deceased person for immigration benefits.
The date of close relative is really a painful experience but it can become much more painful if the identity of such deceased person is stolen and misused. To avoid such pain, keep in mind the following precautions -

1. Draft carefully the information to be released in the newspapers in obituary column. You should not write unnecessary information like date of birth and the address. This provides a big clue to the identity thieves.

2. You should take out many copies of the death certificate quickly and summit them the financial institutions and banks where the deceased person had an account.

3. You should personally contact all the financial institutions, credit card companies, mortgage companies and stockbrokers and to any other institution where the deceased had an account. It is advisable to request the closure of such accounts immediately with a remark that the account holder is dead. This is important to prevent opening of any new account.

4. You should also report the death to all three credit bureaus as soon as possible. You should support your communication with a copy of the death certificate.

5. You should inform immediately to the social security administration about the death of the person.

6. You should contact the motor vehicles department and inform them about the death to prevent misuse of the driver's license. You should request the department to cancel the driver's license by submitting a copy of the death certificate.

7. Do not throw any utility bills or bank statements in the name of diseased person in the garbage. You should shred all these papers to ensure that no one will be able to find out anything from these documents.

8. After a reasonable time of about 45 to 60 days, request for a copy of the credit report for the deceased person from all three credit bureaus to ensure that the fact of death is entered in the credit report and no new transaction is reported there.

The crimes of identity theft have reached such a new height that even the dead are subject to the threat of misuse of identity. It is your duty to prevent such misuse to protect your loved ones even after their death.