LONG TERM FRAUD
As in the Day of the Jackal case, Long Term Fraud occurs when a criminal takes on the identity of a child or young person who has died in the past and who would now be reaching adult age.
They firstly identify this person by scouring graveyards or by searching through death records. A birth certificate is obtained and this is used to apply for a passport, driving licence and other official documentation. Over time a full identity is built up and the criminal ‘becomes’ the deceased person.
Long Term Fraud is normally associated with serious crime such as money laundering, drug smuggling, terrorism or people trafficking.
One of the most worrying is to cover up a criminal record or inclusion on the Sex Offenders’ Register when applying for a job that involves police checks – especially working with children.
Other reasons include obtaining a false passport, driving without insurance, hiding from the police, committing bigamy, and avoiding the taxman.
Recently in the news is the case of Michael Ferguson who stole a dead child’s identity and obtained a British passport, national insurance number and credit cards in the child’s name. Ferguson used the documents to obtain work as a security guard.SHORT TERM FRAUD
In the case of Short Term Fraud a criminal will identify that a person has died from obituary notices in local papers, through property auctions advertising vacant possession, or through local news sources.
They then intercept mail addressed to the dead person by scouring through waste bins, by viewing empty properties or by setting up redirection of mail to their own address.
The details gathered are used to obtain credit, often in the form of credit cards or loans, or to purchase goods without paying for them. If details of bank or building society accounts are intercepted, fraudsters can change the details to allow them to access these.
Cases generally come to light when families start to receive demands for payment of fraudulently obtained credit or goods which they have no previous knowledge of.
An estimated 80,000 incidences of deceased identity fraud occurred in 2005*, yet it’s likely that the true number of cases is significantly higher. Most of the deaths in the UK are of people over the age of 70 who were brought up before the age of the credit card and 'pay later' and rarely had any debt other than a long paid off mortgage.
An elderly widow, for example, receiving demands for payment may pay the debt simply through fear or to avoid what she may see as disgrace and further distress. Cases such as these are, of course, not reported or detected.* Source: CIFAS
