The identities of deceased persons are increasingly being targeted by identity thieves and used for a number of unlawful activities and this is known as ‘jackal fraud’.  It is very important then that you protect all of the information in your care, and dispose of even out of date information and that of deceased persons very carefully, as unfortunately birth certificates and other forms of identification are not officially linked to death certificates, so if a thief got hold of a deceased person’s key identity documents they could use this to masquerade as them and carry out a number of serious crimes such as credit and medical fraud.

Contacting Relevant Account Providers

If you are the administrator or appointed executor of a deceased persons estate then it is very important that you take the time to notify all of the relevant account providers that they have passed away, from utility companies right through to credit bureaus, banks and insurance providers.  This will deactivate existing accounts to prevent any further charges from being incurred and will also prevent anyone from using the deceased persons details to set up new credit accounts in the future. Always be sure you have the latest identity theft service protection.

Mail Services

It is important that you contact the US Postal Services and redirect any personal mail addressed to a deceased person to the administrator or appointed executor, or if you are the person dealing with the estate then make sure you contact all of the senders to notify them that the addressee has passed away, and dispose of any unwanted mail carefully by shredding it.  It is also a good idea to request that the deceased persons name is removed from commercial mailing lists, as this will stop any junk mail from being sent out in their names, and this can be done by contacting the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and registering the relevant name on the ‘ Deceased Do Not Contact’ list.

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