The scourge of identity theft is not just a problem for the living; identity thieves have also been increasingly targeting the dead. More than 800,000 dead persons are victimized by identity thieves each year, and annually there are 1.6 million credit applications filled out on behalf of dead people. One consequence of this theft of credit information is that the deceased person’s loved ones who are left behind are often subjected to harassing collection calls from creditors. When a person dies the estate’s personal representative should inform all three credit bureaus by sending them an original death certificate.
See Kansas and Missouri Estate Planning Blog, A New “Mark” For Identity Thieves – The Dead!, Wealth Management, July 6, 2015.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.
