When a loved one passes away, there are a lot of things that have to be managed. One thing that may not even occur to you is trying to protect your loved one’s identity from being stolen.
“Ghosting,” or post-death identity theft, is far more common than most people realize.
How does ghosting work?
Identity thieves monitor obituaries, social media posts and public records to find recent death notices that contain personal details that will help them exploit the financial system. It has been estimated that 2.5 million identities are stolen from the deceased every year.
Banks, credit bureaus and government agencies aren’t always immediately informed about someone’s death, and that gives criminals a key window of opportunity. In the month or two it may take records of a loved one’s death to reach creditors, a lot of financial damage can be done.
What can you do to prevent fraud?
It can start with the obituary. Limit the information you share in it. Don’t include things like your loved one’s exact date of birth, middle name, home address or other identifying information. Further, you can do the following:
- Notify the financial institutions right away. Inform your loved one’s bank and credit card companies and close or freeze their accounts right away.
- Alert the Social Security Administration right away. Even though the funeral home will send a notice, it can take a while to process. It’s better to handle this issue in person.
- Report the death to the credit bureaus. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion can all put a “deceased” alert on their credit report.
- Set up mail forwarding. As soon as the executor has the court’s permission, have the deceased’s mail sent to a secure address so it cannot be used to obtain financial information.
If you’ve recently lost a loved one, legal guidance can help you make sure that you handle all of the probate issues – and issues like these – as smoothly as possible.
