At Rest, But Not in Peace

It’s a sad and sobering statistic: On any given day, approximately 1,575 people die in the UK, according to ONS figures. Based on current estimates from The REaD Group, this same 1,575 deceased will cumulatively receive over 126,000 pieces of unsolicited mail in the twelve months following their deaths. Causing undue distress to surviving family members as well as adverse environmental impacts, this veritable junk mail tsunami being dispatched to the deceased – much of it containing personal information such as name, address and date of birth – is increasingly being intercepted by identity fraudsters. According to CIFAS, the UK’s fraud prevention service, Impersonation of the Dead (IOD) is Britain’s fastest-growing identity crime, with upwards of 70,000 families likely to experience the pain of discovering their deceased loved one has become a victim of IOD fraud this year alone.

‘To lose a loved one is upsetting enough,’ comments The REaD Group CEO Mark Roy. ‘But to see their identity stolen by criminals is perhaps the ultimate indignity. It is for this reason that we call upon the direct marketing industry, government and consumers to join together to help stop this upsetting and insidious crime wave.’

While the Ministry of Justice recently ignored Information Commissioner Richard Thomas’ calls for tougher sentencing laws for perpetrators of data fraud and identity theft in favour of unenforceable two-year jail terms, the number of families joining The REaD Group’s The Bereavement Register (TBR), continues to grow exponentially.

Established in 2000 and containing over 2.8 million names, TBR is a free service that helps stop post being sent to people who have died – thus protecting personal data and the environment.