Final Insult: Thieves Steal Deceased’s Identity
When 23-year-old Zal Chapgar of Bluebell, PA passed away, his family was understandably devastated.
But their grieving period was interrupted by a sudden slew of mysterious and confusing phone calls from banks and national stores.
Though the Chapgars didn’t know it yet, Zal’s identity had been stolen…after he’d already passed away.
A Shocking Discovery
The family was alerted to the misdeed when they began receiving phone calls from credit card companies, including financial giants Amex and Citibank, and from businesses.
The Chapgars “thought it was a freak thing,” according to Zal’s mother, Kerban, in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer.
But when the unwanted solicitations kept coming, the Chapgars came to a chilling realization: someone was attempting to defraud banks and stores of money on the coattails of Zal’s good reputation.
The Next Generation of Grave Robbing?
Credit report representatives who talked to The Inquirer said what the Chapgars experienced may represent only a small percentage of an estimated 8.3 billion annual identity thefts in the U.S. (as of 2008). But it’s worth noting that pinning down recent deaths and using them for robbery isn’t a new concept.
For example, one decades-old criminal M.O. is to look in newspapers for obituaries, combing them for funeral dates. The criminals can then more easily break into and rob the deceased’s home while the mourners are gone and the house is empty.
From there it’s only a matter of seeing a technological avenue to steal actual identities, with implications for the family that could include, for example, the spouse of the deceased being libel for bogus loans run up by ID thieves. And solving the situation might mean lawyer’s fees and additional angst for the surviving family members.
Fighting Back
Foiling a would-be ID thief involves the same basic measures whether the intended victim is alive or deceased, experts say.
Have a “fraud alert” placed on the accounts of any relative who has passed away. Though this may be the farthest thing from a surviving family member’s mind, it can and should be part of the process of closing final accounts, experts advise.
Report any suspicious activity to the financial institution and to the police immediately.
And make sure all mail is immediately scheduled to be forwarded to the location of a trusted family member so that identifying materials won’t be waiting in the loved one’s mailbox for a would-be thief to snatch while he or she jogs by.
No grieving family deserves the added pain of dealing with identity theft. Taking some simple steps against this possibility will mean privacy and dignity for everyone–including your beloved family member’s memory.
