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Identity Thieves Preying On The Deceased
The crime of identity theft has taken a macabre turn -- preying on the dead.The winding journey to our final resting place is where we expect to be released from our earthly burden.It is hard to imagine thieves are lurking, scouring the obituaries for the recently departed.“We put in her maiden name, where she lived most of her life. We put in family members,” said Tim Wheaton.Wheaton talked about the obituary he prepared for his mother.It was packed with information used to steal her identity.“Some criminals have learned that impersonating the deceased is a successful way to commit identity theft,” said Beth Givens of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
Video: Identity Thieves Prey On The Deceased
Obituary identity thieves gleaning names of the dead from obituaries, and matching them up with Social Security numbers posted on the Internet, on privately run genealogy sites and on the site run by the Social Security Administration, the Master Death Index.Once you are dead, you don’t have a right to privacy.“It would have helped at that emotional time for someone to mention these concerns,” said10News first investigated and reported on this macabre crime wave.The report was turned in to Congress for a solution.“This all came about from work 10News had done,” said 53rd District Rep. Susan Davis.Davis introduced the Identity Theft Protection for the Deceased Act, which would require the federal government to inform all credit-reporting agencies about a person’s death, making it tougher for someone to open up credit in the deceased person’s name.“Sometimes what is amazing is these things go on without finding an appropriate fix, and this is a pretty easy one,” said Davis.Privacy advocates agree.“It is a start. Get it through and we’ll cut off one big chunk of the identity theft problem we are having,” said Jay Foley of the Identity Theft Resource Center.10News took concerns about identity theft to the Social Security Administration, asking them to consider taking the Master Death Index off its Web site.
Video: Identity Thieves Prey On The Deceased
Obituary identity thieves gleaning names of the dead from obituaries, and matching them up with Social Security numbers posted on the Internet, on privately run genealogy sites and on the site run by the Social Security Administration, the Master Death Index.Once you are dead, you don’t have a right to privacy.“It would have helped at that emotional time for someone to mention these concerns,” said10News first investigated and reported on this macabre crime wave.The report was turned in to Congress for a solution.“This all came about from work 10News had done,” said 53rd District Rep. Susan Davis.Davis introduced the Identity Theft Protection for the Deceased Act, which would require the federal government to inform all credit-reporting agencies about a person’s death, making it tougher for someone to open up credit in the deceased person’s name.“Sometimes what is amazing is these things go on without finding an appropriate fix, and this is a pretty easy one,” said Davis.Privacy advocates agree.“It is a start. Get it through and we’ll cut off one big chunk of the identity theft problem we are having,” said Jay Foley of the Identity Theft Resource Center.10News took concerns about identity theft to the Social Security Administration, asking them to consider taking the Master Death Index off its Web site.
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