ShareThisThere's not much parents can do to prevent a thief from stealing their dead child's personal information.
Once a child's death is reported to the Social Security Administration, the agency records the child's Social Security number and birth and death dates in its "Death Master File." From there, the information becomes publicly available, for free on some genealogy websites and otherwise for a fee.
Then, it's open season for thieves, who scan the updated file for newly dead children, then quickly turn around and use the child's Social Security number and other sensitive information to file a fraudulent tax return claiming the child as a dependent. The crooks route the refunds to themselves.
The first grieving parents learn of the scam is usually months later when they file their tax return and the Internal Revenue Service rejects it because the child already has been claimed as a dependent.
Families interviewed by Scripps Howard News Service said that they had to re-file their 1040 forms to the IRS, which generally sent them their rightful refund in 6 to 8 weeks.
So how can you prevent a child's identity information from being made public? The short answer is: You can't.
The Social Security Administration says it is required by law to make the information publicly available. Genealogy sites say their hands are tied, and they cannot remove or redact the information that appears online for anyone to see.
The IRS says it is trying to combat the fraud -- the agency has assembled a growing staff to investigate the thefts, and this year it introduced strong filters to try to identify bogus claims. But the IRS will not divulge any information about its cases, and says it must respect the privacy rights of all filers -- crooks included.
Among the few steps you can take:
-- File taxes early. The IRS typically processes returns in the order received. Try to get your 1040 to the taxman before an impostor has a chance to claim your child.
-- Don't expect answers. By law, the IRS cannot share information about the person who claimed your child. So let go of any desire to hunt down the culprit yourself.
-- Contact credit bureaus. It's possible the thief also tried to use your child's name to take out credit cards or turn on utilities. To find out, contact the credit ratings agencies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
-- Brace for it. Families hit with this type of ID theft say the worst aspect of the crime is the awful realization that someone tried to exploit a child's death for profit.
(Contact reporter Isaac Wolf at wolfi(at)shns.com.)
