Identity Theft from the Dead
Sid Kirchheimer, who writes the Scam-Alert column for the AARP Bulletin, offered tips on the Today Show on how to scam proof your death. Kirchheimer said identity thieves look through obituaries foe names and addresses of people who have recently passed on, then they buy their Social Security numbers on the internet.
Jay Foley of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, California said about 400,000 checking accounts were opened in the names of deceased people in 2004.