Ghosting – When There’s Something Strange in the Neighborhood

July 17, 2009 – 2:53 pm

“Ghosting” is when someone steals the identity of a deceased person and it’s on the rise. While the U.S. doesn’t track statistics on “ghosting,” in the United Kingdom the crime is so prolific that a person has a 16% chance of having their identity used illegally after their death.

The increase in popularity is mostly due to the infrequency of ghosters getting buster. Identity theft is a hard thing to prove especially when the victim has no voice. Usually ghosting leads to the family of the deceased receiving collection calls and threats to foreclose or reposes their items. Can you imagine the added hassle that would force up on a grieving family? Although ghosting may technically have no victim, it ends up effecting a lot of people.

For instance, a man was recently arrested on identity theft charges after he’d been using the identity of a deceased four year old boy who died in 1984 to make house and car purchases. If not for a keen person who notices the birth certificate wasn’t quite right he’d still be out there doing that. Now think about the family of the deceased child who have to have it all brought up again just because of this despicable lump of flesh. Add to that collection agencies who are cold bloodedly trying to hunt down the person responsible and threatening all those in their way.

It’s a horrible situation and hopefully one you’ll never have to face. Just be aware of this new and disturbing crime.

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