1. Call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 and notify them of your loved one’s passing. Follow up with a letter sent certified return receipt requested.

2. Contact the CRAs by phone to place a fraud alert on the person’s file. You will not speak to a live person. Provide the Social Security number and address and you’ll get a letter from each of the three CRAs entitling you to write them for a free credit report.

3. Determine which accounts are fraudulent by comparing them to the accounts that are genuine. Determining which is which may be a feat in itself. Look for fraudulent addresses on the report, the date the accounts were opened, the dates of inquiries, and accounts that are in arrears.

4. Get a law-enforcement identity-theft report, as explained in Chapter 2. You will need to show the death certificate and some evidence of the fraud to get the report.

5. Fill out the identity-theft victim affidavit, explicitly stating that the victim is deceased and you are acting as the representative of the victim’s estate.

6. Write the CRAs to dispute the accounts and inquiries. Include a copy of the death certificate, an affidavit, a copy of your loved one’s utility statement, evidence of your relation, and a copy of the law-enforcement report. Inform the CRAs that the person has died and that they should immediately place a “deceased alert” on the credit file and take the file offline so no other creditor can access it. Also demand that they immediately inform all third parties that have requested copies of the credit profile.

7. If you have not already done so, contact all true creditors and business relationships of the deceased. Ask them to close accounts or, if there are bank accounts or investments that are part of the estate, provide a power of attorney and other documents to manage the estate so that you may also protect those accounts and transfer funds to new account numbers with new passwords. If your late spouse was a victim, close joint accounts and transfer any money to new accounts.

8. Contact all creditors and other third parties that have either created fraudulent accounts or have requested a credit report after the person died. In each case, explain the identity theft and establish the timing of the death. Be sure to include a copy of the death certificate. This will establish that the deceased could not have been responsible for the charges on the account. If crimes were committed by the impostor after the person’s death, you will establish death as the perfect alibi.

9. Notify the Internal Revenue Service about the fraud. You will need to fill out an estate tax return for the deceased. Let the IRS know about the fraud before they notify you of underpayment if a fraudster used the deceased’s Social Security number to work or to obtain other financial benefits. See Chapter 12 for more information.

10. If the deceased was on Medicare or Medicaid or had private health insurance, or received Social Security payments or retirement income, contact the agency or insurance company and report the death to stop someone else from claiming those benefits. Look at Chapter 14 for details on handling medical identity theft and clearing records with Medicare, Medicaid, or other health carriers.

11. If the deceased had a professional license, contact that state’s licensing authority and inform it that the person has died, and to place an alert in the file so an impostor doesn’t use the license. Chapter 12 has details for dealing with professional licenses.