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 Identity theft is taking on a grisly new turn
    February 24 2009 at 06:39AM Get IOL on your
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By Natasha Joseph

The department of home affairs is urging South Africans to contact its national call centre to find out if they're still alive.

That's because identity theft is taking a grisly new turn, with some fraudsters stealing ID numbers and personal information to register people as dead, in order to benefit from insurance policies.

In other instances, the "deceased" are guilty of colluding with doctors, police officers and their own friends and family, to con the department of home affairs and insurance companies, says departmental spokesperson Joseph Mohajane.

He said on Monday it was "a bit difficult" to say how often this sort of fraud was occurring, but confirmed that it was a national phenomenon which was probably coming to light more frequently, because people had just been involved in voter registration drives across the country.
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He said some people were arriving at registration stations only to discover that their status on the national population register was "deceased".

This was the result of forged death certificates, Mohajane said, and underscored the need for people to keep their identity documents safe and not to give out personal details to anyone "for any reason".

"People are unaware that they've been declared dead by someone who wanted to use them for fraudulent activities," Mohajane said.

When a person dies, a form must be filled in by several people in order to notify the department of home affairs, he said.

This included the doctor or medical professional who examined the body and declared the person dead, the police in cases of accidental death, and a family member or close friend.

The next of kin or close friend must provide a thumbprint, and a print must also be made from the thumb of the dead person, he said.

That information is sent to the department for processing, and once all the data is captured in the department's databases, a person is listed as dead.

Mohajane said that in some cases of fraud, "one or two people (who have to fill in the form) may collude".

In other instances, corrupt officials from the department may be involved, he admitted.

"When we find out that someone has been declared dead while they're alive, the first thing we do is go back to their records and look at what's happened - we look for collusion," he said.

Those who find out that they're legally dead need not despair: the situation can be remedied within two weeks.

The first step is to obtain an affidavit from the police or a magistrate's court stating that you are alive.

Several forms, including a birth registration form, must then be filled out at your local home affairs office.

The file will then be handed to the police to begin a criminal investigation, he said.

  • To check if you are listed as living or dead, call home affairs on 0800-60-11-90. It is hoping to have this facility available online soon.

      • This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on February 24, 2009
    • Showing page 1 of 2 comment pages, 19 total comments
    38 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
    Is it the credit crunch.
    38 Weeks ago R.V.BAATJES wrote :
    Jislaaik!! I am in a quandary.So say I discover I am "legally dead" whilst still very much alive,what do I do for two weeks?Play dead or stop breathing for that period?
    38 Weeks ago michael wrote :
    Hey Jules...Ben's right, whether you like it or not. And of course its relevant...with all that had happened in the past with Zambia, ZIM,etc, etc, etc,etc... we shouldv'e known better...but noooo, we didn't listen, and now we're all 'dead'.
    38 Weeks ago I want to live while I'm alive! wrote :
    "Those who find out that they're legally dead need not despair: the situation can be remedied within two weeks." Legally dead? Surely it should be "illegally dead"? Or should this not mean that once I've been cleared through this farce I'll be declared legally alive? But if I'm dead how could I be writing this?
    38 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
    I was widowed in 1991 but despite advising Home Affairs and having death certificate etc until last year I was still registered as married. When I went on line and discovered this had still not been put right I sent an e-mail and nearly passed out with shock when I got a response within 20 minutes stating they would look into the matter and get back to me. I then had a telephone call from the Department and was advised they were working on the problem, then on Valentine's Day last year I received a phone call from a very courteous gentleman who apologised for the problem and advised me everything was not in order. I checked and I am now single!! Roberta
    38 Weeks ago Marlena - gugs wrote :
    Perhaps DHA should work on a speedier process for election day! I just hope come election time, that those 'declared' dead are able to to go to their nearest DHA office to have them declared 'un-dead' otherwise we will have many not being able to vote in this crucial elections!
    38 Weeks ago Jules wrote :
    Ben, please go back to Zambia. That comment adds no value to the debate...
    38 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
    A question we should be asking is why are we asked to fill in our ID number on so many things when it's really irrelevant to the company asking for it. You'd typically have to fill in all your other personal details so what's to stop someone there from using that information? If it's so easy for the info to be used for fraud you should only have to fill in your ID number where it is truly necessary!
    38 Weeks ago Nikelwa Goxo wrote :
    Very few people are alive in South Africa....99,9999...% are walking zombies. Walking corpses!!! Why are u suprised???
    38 Weeks ago Red Tape wrote :
    Just wait and see, their solution will be to make registering a death (a traumatic process for the relatives) even more complex and time-consuming. The corrupt officials will bypass the procedure and continue making money, and the other officials will begin demanding bribes to make the paperwork go faster. The won't actually solve the problem or fire the corrupt, they'll just make things more complicated and traumatic for honest citizens! That is their solution to everything, presumably to make it look like they're actually working for their huge salaries.
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