Posted on March 10, 2008 at 4:09 pm The criminals never stop... stealing. Identity thieves steal the identities of the deceased in the hopes their deeds will go undetected longer than when they prey on living victims.  My insurance company gives these helpful tips to keep the havoc out of your life: 1) Don't include dates of birth or addresses in obituaries 2) Promptly notify the deceased's financial institutions about your loved one's passing 3) Don't let mail accumulate in the deceased's mail box 4) Cancel the person's driver's license 5) Send copies of the death certificate to the three major credit reporting agencies. Several weeks later, request a free annual credit report from each bureau at www.annualcreditreport.com and look for fraudulent activity.  

Posted on September 22, 2008 at 11:35 am I feel that once you die the government should put a flag on your social security number so that this would not happen. That way if anyone tries to get credit with that social they will be denied.

Posted on October 1, 2008 at 3:50 am Yeah, this is also necessary things to do.There is a lot of probability that most of the dead persons becoming victims of this fraud.

Posted on March 29, 2009 at 8:22 am Thanks for your suggestions on how to prevent identity theft of the deceased. However, I think that maybe the whole Social Security Number system should be revamped so that these problems can be avoided.