Credit Professional 2018 Spring_2018_magazine | Página 11

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continue to collect interest,"
Canton advises.
Pay Final Bills and Guard
Against Financial Fraud
While paying the final bills for
someone who's died, don't
forget about things like property
taxes or income taxes that may
be due. A good CPA can file a
final 1040 for the deceased
individual and, if required, a
Form 1041, an estate income
tax return.
Carrying out the duties of an
executor also means protecting
the deceased person and his or
her heirs against financial fraud
and exploitation.
There are several ways to
do this:
Keep the obituary short and
sweet. John Sileo, a nationally
known speaker on identity theft
and the author of "Privacy
Means Profit," says, "Share as
little information about the
person as necessary," because
obituaries are easy places for
crooks to find a deceased
person's age, birth date and
sometimes other data like an
address or a mother's maiden
name. Levin puts it bluntly:
"The reality is, there are people
that case obituaries like
burglars case houses."
Be careful with social media.
It's tempting to go on Facebook
or other social networking sites
to post tributes, create online
memorials and offer personal
reflections about a loved one
who has died. But experts
caution against it.
"The more information people
give away about their deceased
relatives, the more information
that identity thieves will be
getting," warns Levin, who is
also co-founder of Credit.com
and Identity Theft 911. Also,
don't notify people of someone's
death via a social networking
site. If you absolutely must use
these networks to communicate
a death notice, says Sileo,
"send a direct message that the
person has died and then shut
down the account, just like you
would financial accounts."
Don't toss; shred. If you're
cleaning out a loved one's
home after their death, be
mindful of dumpster divers
and others who steal mail.
Shred important documents
instead of putting them in
the trash, Sileo recommends.
Limit personal access to
sensitive data. Lastly, avoid the
mistake of letting copies of the
death certificate or personal
records lay around unprotected,
even in boxes. Take extra care
to secure the financial
documents of those who had
been living in nursing homes or
assisted living facilities.
"When you're dealing with a
chronically-ill person or
someone in a nursing home
who has died, and the person
was often sedated or sleeping,
health care workers often have
opportunity to rifle through the
person's mail and files," Levin
notes. "Unfortunately, that can
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The Credit Professional
10
Spring 2018