Identity Theft and the Deceased

As with many other crimes, with identity theft nothing is sacred. You do not have to be alive to have your identity stolen. Just like burglars who search the obituaries so they can rob homes of grieving families during funerals, there are identity thieves who use information on death certificates to steal the identity of the deceased. Sound impossible? It takes a while for businesses to remove someone who has died from their lists (my mother was receiving sales calls for my father several months after he passed away), so if someone steals and completes a preapproved credit card form or applies for credit online in the name of the deceased, the company may not have it in their records that the person has died and will not find it suspicious.

How can this be stopped when death certificates are public record? Anyone can request one, and now some counties make them available to be viewed online. However, identity theft has become such a big problem in Arizona that one county has decided to remove them from their website.

While this may slowdown the problem, it will not stop it. But this is by no means new. People have been crime victims beyond the grave for centuries, and what can be easier than taking advantage of someone who has died? They aren't going to be checking credit reports or reviewing credit card statements. That makes identity theft so much easier. The surviving family members may eventually discover the problem when they start receiving bills and notices from debt collection agencies.