A few months after losing their 3-year-old daughter to a rare genetic disease, Matt Hammond and his wife received word someone had stolen sweet Loie’s identity and actually got a tax refund in her name. The theft was detailed in a story by WJLA, an ABC Television affiliate based in Virginia. The tax return was filed using her name, birthdate and social security number. Hammond believes the thief could have lifted most of the information from her obituary and then paid $10 to look at the Social Security Administration’s death index. A detective interviewed for the story, Andrew Bucholtz, says that many of the thieves are operating out of what he calls “haunted houses.” The Washington, D.C. area is filled with them, according to Bucholtz.
“It could be a single family home and the bad guy is committing identity fraud and he’s using hundreds of identities and it begins to look like they live there,” Bucholtz says.
To read more on this story, visit http://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/7-on-your-side-investigates-zombie-houses.
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