Identity Theft: A Terrible Plot Twist.

It was one of those calls I hate to receive from clients: A client’s husband had been a victim of identity theft. What’s more, the perpetrator was one of the client’s own children. She learned of the fraud thanks to a phone call from a collection agency, seeking payment.

As sad and frustrating as it is when a kid goes wrong, the worst of it was that the victim had died three years ago.

Identity theft against the dead? Yes. It’s more common than you may think. I’ve had clients experience this before, sometimes within a month of someone dying. And although it seems like the definition of a victimless crime, it can create endless problems for the remaining family.

With cases like this, I turn to the ID Theft Center. It was founded by Linda Foley, Executive Director, and her husband Jay, after Linda had been a victim of identify theft herself.

They’ve put together a great website, with lots of tips and guides for victims. Here’s the link to their guide for the theft of Social Security Numbers and fraud against the deceased; I used it to help this client. What’s more, the ID Theft Center has people available to speak to groups about identity fraud.

The guide explains that families can write each of the three credit bureaus to place an alert on the victim’s credit report explaining that they are deceased (you need to include a copy of the death certificate in your letter). They can also add a message requesting that the creditor call them before issuing credit to someone using that person’s information. But the ultimate solution (no pun intended) is to freeze the credit report completely. California is now one of 12 or more states that allow this.

If you’ve been a victim of identity fraud (and have a copy of the police report you filed) you can freeze your file for free. Otherwise, there’s a $10 fee. The bureaus will freeze your report and give you a password that you’ll have to use to unfreeze it when you want to apply for credit.

I worked for TRW’s credit reporting agency for 12 years, and occasionally we’d receive requests from consumers to freeze their credit report. We used to laugh, thinking what  an impossible inconvenience it would be for the consumer. But in today’s virulent fraud environment, I now think it’s a great idea.

So if you already have the credit you need – home equity line of credit, credit cards, etc. – consider freezing your credit file. That just leaves your existing credit vulnerable to theft. Here’s how to make this happen: California Department of Consumer Affairs’ instructions.

Delia Fernandez, MBA, PFP