A legal/moral/ethical question

[judgement]

The SSN's that you find on Ancestry.com actually come from the US Government. Unfortuanately that information is available as public information. Death, Birth, and Census info is all available from the US Government. Ancestry.com has just compiled the data.

On a slightly different note, I was looking into how and when is an SSN reissued?
If you come across anything please post a reply. Thanks in advance.

[Egaladeist]

People have been doing this for decades...before they'd look at the Obits in a newspaper, make a few fake calls to relatives of the deceased, then apply for Birth cert...etc...then go get a few credit cards under that identity...max them out...do it again.

The internet just makes it easier...the point is speed...get the deed done as fast as you can before anyone figures it out...then go on to the next one.

They should ' black out ' information like that...it'll slow them down...and slow means ' caught '.

Eg

[debwalin]

In an ideal world, there would definately be "red flags" on people who've passed on. In most cases though, there aren't. In my aunts case, the same jackass who took advantage of her information while she was alive continued to do it until they were finally caught. I absolutely refused to quit hounding the police - I think I got more action out of them because the fraud had begun before she passed though. I'm not sure how concerned they would really have been if she'd been dead before they started using her info. They did however definately get new credit in her name well after her death.

[The Texan]

Well the concenus seems to be that if I do this I will have a girlfriend named bubba for about 20+ years so I dont think I will do it but I really do wish there was a way a could inform the police about this beforehand and they would let me "test" it to see if it would actually work but I doubt they will let me do it. My intentions are good but they prolly dont care.

[dalek]

Check with your local reps, maybe they can take it from there and go public with this information or at least start to ask questions about how the numbers are too easily available, some reps like crusades, and some places don't like the negative publicity, check around, you are probably not the only one who notices this laxness.

[RoadClosed]

On the flip side if John Smith died and no one knew he had a credit card with Bobs gas station. That could be worse? The only way to reasonably identify unclaimed property is with the social and the only way to get the social is via public access. There could be 1000 john smiths dying this month. All with unlclaimed debt, propery, cars etc. If one didn't get closed that could be worse?
As for the US having laws to protect against unauthorized SSN use. We have several starting with he Privacy Act of 1978 and as recently as 1998. You have to have a way to itentify a deceased person and just like birth it has to be publically accessible. Otherwise only the government would know. Talk about big brother.

[Trevoke]

One thing you could do is go to a bank, IN PERSON, with all the important documentation (aka printouts of the website, addresses, procedures) and say you would like to see a manager. When you are asked why, explain what your concern is, and ask them what the best way to test the system without breaking the law is... ?

[The Texan]

Trev, I like your Idea i will try that and see what they say

[The Texan]

UPDATE: I called the social security admin number and asked about this, they werent much help though. they gave me the generic answer "if someone tries to get a card in her name its a felony and they will go to jail". so im just gonna drop it at that even though im pretty sure I could get a card with her SSN if i wanted.

[OverdueSpy]

I'd be more worried about someone registering my deceased grandmother as a libertarian for the next general election.