The New Level of Guardianship

Being accountable to our loved ones

February 2010


Tragically, there are those among us who believe that stealing a deceased person’s identity is no big deal, a victimless crime. After all, the dead have no need for credit histories, loans, new cars, or houses. Scammers have no conscience. They rationalize it’s of little consequence to commit fraud in a deceased person’s name. No harm, no foul. Wrong.

When criminals steal identities of the dead, surviving family members are the true victims. An already morbid crime becomes an out-and-out heinous one. While grieving their loss, survivors must then endure the painful ordeal of rebuilding the decedent’s financial reputation and good credit standing, or face the prospect of either paying fraudulently incurred debts themselves or witnessing an estate wither away. Sure, there are laws and procedures in place to help stop criminals from obtaining credit in a deceased person’s name.

The Red Flags Rule — a provision of the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act — requires that banks (and, if and when Red Flags are fully enforced, will extend to car dealers, medical providers, and any other company, government agency or nonprofit group that extends credit) verify, among other things, credit applications for indications of identity theft. If they detect any warning signs, these entities must have a process in place for how to respond. This could include not extending credit to the individual in question, or notifying the police.

It’s a partial solution, but not all credit-issuers are required to adhere to Red Flags, at least not for the time being. And even if — and when — they are required to do so, consumers can not happily and contentedly assume that all credit issuers will actually follow the law.

Then there’s the Social Security Death Index — a useful tool for creditors looking to verify that their credit applicant is not, in fact, dead. That is, as long as they’re checking the index months down the road. The problem with the Social Security Death Index is that there can be a lag time of days, weeks or months — the equivalent of a dog year for identity thieves — before a person’s death is recorded. In the meantime, there exists a fertile landscape for financial devastation, and there are folks out there who thrive on exploiting such a perfect criminal opportunity.

So what then? Where does that leave consumers? Well… no doubt, some lawmakers are working to the best of their ability to help protect consumers from fraud, and businesses, if they know what’s good for them (and their bottom line) should follow those laws and procedures. However, consumers can not— and should not — assume that government and business alone will keep their loved ones’ names out of the criminal mire.

Welcome to Accountability 2010. Regardless of the volume of laws enacted or the vigor with which those laws are enforced, the ultimate guardian of the consumer is the consumer. If we don’t get that concept, criminals have that much more leverage over us.

There’s a giant issue that people aren’t giving enough airplay, and it’s that these measures address preventing theft with information that has already been stolen. But what about actually working to protect sensitive personal information in order to prevent its theft in the first place?

First, let’s look at where the standard risks lurk. With ghosting, the thief could be a home health care worker, a hospital employee, a random stranger who cases obituaries like cat burglars case houses, or — most disturbing of all — a family member or so-called friend. Elderly and infirmed family and friends need us to be their frontrunners. Make no mistake, if we find ourselves too overwhelmed in the caretaking process to want to deal with shoring up their finances and identity information, there’s someone out there who is eagerly waiting to capitalize on our distraction.

For some reason, too many of us assume that keeping watch over one’s identity and finances is a remarkably time-consuming and effort-intensive process. It isn’t. However, undoing the handiwork of an identity thief is. So start with your home base: Lock up your loved one’s sensitive documents in a safe. Keep an inventory of all sensitive information, and check on it regularly. If you’re in charge of their accounts, screen them with a hawk’s diligence. If you’re not in charge of their financial affairs, start — and maintain — a dialogue with them about keeping their data and accounts safe. If you have to be the warden over their living space — be it at home or a health care facility — do it. Know who visits them. Know who is caring for them (if you aren’t). And don’t permit their credit or bank cards or sensitive documents to remain at the health care facility or lay out in the open at home. 

When the unfortunate — and inevitable — occurs, be aware of the very ugly reality that there are indeed strangers who comb obituaries in hopes of harvesting information for committing fraud. Don’t give them an easy lay-up. It’s understandable to want to pay tribute to your loved one, just be judicious with the information you publish in the newspaper or on your Facebook wall.

Next, suppress their credit file. This is probably the single-most important thing that can be done to protect their accounts from criminal manipulation. Contact each of the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian — and make sure you’re able to prove you are the executor and have a certified copy of the death notice on hand.  Compared to the logistical nightmare and emotional dislocation involved when a loved one’s information is being misused, these are minimal requirements. Credit bureaus may not be able to accommodate a request to suppress credit in every instance, but they are often willing to add certain types of protection on a deceased person’s credit file. It may be an alert — a red flag signaling creditors that they need to take additional steps toward authorization — or it may be a freeze, which basically prevents creditors from pulling a person’s credit file, thus preventing the opening of new accounts.


If health care workers are still preying upon the elderly and infirmed, that means government and business are still leaving the door open to fraud and exploitation. If health care providers can’t be bothered to conduct and abide by thorough criminal background checks, then the government needs to require them to do so. And if providers fail to do so, they must be held to exacting penalties.

When the unfortunate — and inevitable — occurs, be aware of the very ugly reality that there are indeed strangers who comb obituaries in hopes of harvesting information for committing fraud. Don’t give them an easy lay-up.

This is a humble request. Husbands, wives, siblings, children, or dear friends must cultivate a safe and protective refuge for loved ones in their time of need. We must work to protect their good name and their memory. Tending to their identity and finances comes with this territory. Business owners and lawmakers: take a good, hard look at what’s happening out in the world and how criminals continue to exploit the elderly and the ill, and start working now to ensure that we keep up with the ugly deeds of those who clearly have no conscience. This is the very least we can all do.