Recently, I've seen many obituaries of Breton #117 family members and others in our community that contain the birth date of the individual that has passed on. This practice should stop to protect the deceased individual's honour and his/her estate from criminal activity.

This common practice causes me great concern due to the fact that this piece of personal information is vital for those individuals wishing to steal the identity of others. The identity theft can be made easier when the person has died rather than still living due to the fact the individual is no longer here to police their own accounts and personal administration.

Criminals in the US and Canada's bigger cities have used this detail as a jumping off point to create false bank accounts and identity cards to assume the name of the deceased individual. We have been fortunate in the Atlantic Provinces because this type of criminal activity is not widespread, yet.

Also, with today's wired world and the Internet, unbeknownst to the grieving family many obituaries are now posted to the World Wide Web as they have appeared in the local newspaper thus making the job of the criminal that much easier. Today's identity thief needs only to scan the Internet for the newly deceased for his next victim.

If the family feels it is absolutely necessary to state the birth of the individual, only post the year of birth and not the day and month.

In Solidarity,

Robert Garnier, CUPW
Secretary Treasurer
Breton Local #117