ID Analytics released a new report that concluded that about 2.4 million people were the victims of identity fraud. What makes this number staggering was the fact that all of the victims are deceased. The report broke down the statistics, and the statistics showed that more than 2,000 thefts occurred a day. In the course of a year, 800,000 identities are intentionally stolen from the recently deceased, while 1.6 million were unintentionally stolen. The primary victims of these thefts are the families of the deceased and lenders or credit products, such as loans and credit cards. Family members might want to keep track of their loved one’s social security number for one year after their loved ones pass away.
See Blake Ellis, Millions of Dead People Get Identities Stolen, CNN Money, Apr. 24, 2012.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
