I know what you are thinking. There is no way my loved ones would ever fall victim to grave robbers. While the threat of someone actually digging up your loved one and stealing their valuables like in the old days is fairly low, there is a new threat on the rise. Grave robbers have become more high tech these days. They are now becoming identity thieves. This type of crime seems to be running rampant these days, and a deceased loved one would be their perfect target.Every day these types of scammers are misusing the personal information of over two thousand deceased people. Shockingly, an ID Analytics study has found that the misuse of security numbers that belong to deceased people occurs over 1.5 million times each year. This means that you need to ensure that your deceased loved ones are protected against this type of crime.
Protect Your Identity Now
Most of us provide protection for our families through life insurance to help cover the cost of our funeral, funeral supplies, and other burial expenses or to even replace any lost income from our death. However, in today’s world we will need more protection than this. We need to ensure that our loved ones do not fall victim to scam artists and identity thieves. We need to be proactive to ensure our family is protected. Unfortunately, these days, you will have to take additional steps to ensure that you do not fall victim to identity theft while you are alive. You may want to enroll in a service like LifeLock to help you monitor your credit reports and other financial dealings, which can help ensure that your personal information remains confidential. You should always monitor your online banking activities, protect your social security number and try your best to keep all your personal and private information private. It is also in your best interest to keep all of your digital and online devices protected with some type of security software to deter scammers and hackers from attempting to acquire any of your personal information. It can seem like a never ending task trying to protect yourself, and it truly is. However, it will be more than worth it in the long run.
Immediately Report the Death to Financial Institutions
It is extremely emotional when you have to cope with the loss of a loved one. Dealing with a death can take an emotional and physical toll on us. Then on top of dealing with all this grief, you have to let any creditors and lenders know of the death of your loved one. This task may take some of us months to accomplish. However, in today’s digital world scammers and identity thieves can get started right away on stealing your loved one’s personal information. All they need to do is check out the obituaries online or go through a newspaper. Anywhere the death of your loved one may be announced, these hackers and scammers will know and use. It ay be in your best interest to find a friend or relative that is able to help you notify all the necessary financial institutions. Or, you may even want to hire a funeral estate planning attorney, who will be able to immediately handle all of the necessary death notifications.
AARP recommends that you notify the Social Security Administration of their death. You should also send death certificates to all three of the major credit reporting services- Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. You should request that any creditors or financial institutions mark your loved one’s accounts as closed due to death to help protect against identity theft. You should also get in touch with the IRS and inform them of the death. This would prevent any potential scammers from filing taxes to get a refund by either using your loved one’s information or using them as a dependent on the scammer’s taxes. If you would like to make this process a little bit easier for your loved ones, you can make a file of prewritten death notifications for all of your accounts. You will need to fill out forms for all of your accounts- any businesses or financial institutions you may deal with. You can have pre addressed envelopes along with all of your letters and have your loved ones easily send them out once you pass. It may seem a little intense to some preparing this way, but it will make it a little bit easier for your loved ones to deal with after you are gone.
It can be difficult dealing with the death of a loved one. Then you throw in something like protecting against identity theft, it just seems like the last straw. The one last straw that throws everything into complete and utter chaos, but it does not have to be. As long as you take the preferred steps ahead of time and put in all the necessary work, you can help ease all of the effort and work your loved ones have to put in. Protect your identity as best as you can while alive, premake your death notification hire a funeral estate attorney or find a loved one to notify the necessary organizations of your death. It is important to protect yourself and your loved ones after they die. Knowing and following the necessary steps before and after the death is the only way to provide the best protection available against these scammers and identity thieves.
Information shared by Mobi Medical Supply. Mobi Medical Supply brings healthcare professionals and death care industry professional’s affordable devices without sacrificing the quality they demand.
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