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Identity Theft and the Deceased: Prevention and Victim Tips

NCJ Number
210692
Author(s)
Linda Foley
Date Published
January 2003
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper focuses on ways to prevent and respond to a thief's obtaining of personal information on a deceased family member for use in criminal schemes.
Abstract
Ways that identity thieves obtain personal information on deceased individuals include the monitoring of obituaries; the theft of death certificates; and access to Web sites that provide a Social Security Death Index file, which is intended for use in genealogy research. The thief may also be a family member with easy access to the personal information of the deceased. The personal information of a deceased person is useful for a thief's criminal activity because a person's active credit file will remain open for up to 10 years without activity. Recommended ways of preventing criminal activity based on this type of identity theft are for executors of the deceased's estate to contact all credit and financial institutions with whom the deceased has dealt to provide official notice that the person is deceased, so that the account or file is closed to any further activity. Institutions and organizations to notify are suggested. The report concludes with recommended steps to take if it is apparent that someone is fraudulently using the personal information of a deceased person. Various samples of form letters for use in death notifications are provided.