In an effort to prevent fraud, Governor Maura Healey has signed into law a measure that ends the routine inclusion of Social Security numbers on publicly available death certificates in Massachusetts.
Scammers sometimes rely on the Social Security numbers they obtain from death certificates when attempting to steal from a deceased person’s bank or other financial accounts.
Last year, Suzy Enos of Bedford highlighted the danger of easily obtained Social Security numbers in a column in the Globe, saying she believed scammers obtained her late sister’s Social Security number days after her death in an elaborate scheme to loot her sister’s assets.
The column caught the eye of numerous elected officials, including Senator Will Brownsberger of Belmont, who has championed the bill that Healey signed on Friday.
“Losing a loved one is difficult enough without the added stress of getting scammed,” Healey said in a statement. “I was proud to work with the Legislature on this change that will protect sensitive information on death certificates.”
In a statement, Brownsberger echoed Healey: “People have enough grief to bear when their loved ones pass — they don’t need scamsters taking advantage of their loss."
The new law, which will go into effect July 1, allows only “a person with legitimate need” to obtain a death certificate that includes the deceased person’s Social Security number.
For example, estate administrators or family members “may find it more efficient to use a death certificate with the decedent’s Social Security number to close bank accounts and take other important action,” according to Healey.
Under those circumstances, the requester may receive a death certificate with a Social Security number, but the number would remain redacted from the publicly available death certificate.
The law also allows death certificates with Social Security numbers to be provided directly to the Social Security Administration, which uses the data to guard against fraudulently obtained Social Security benefits and to prevent accidental overpayments.
Putting Social Security numbers on death certificates has been standard practice in Massachusetts for decades. Some states already redact Social Security numbers and restrict the release of death certificates to those with a relationship to the deceased.
Enos, an IT director at a major corporation, went to battle online with the scammers and ultimately succeeded in protecting most of her sister’s assets, including the hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement and savings accounts the scammers were in the process of stealing.
She cited the public availability of her sister’s Social Security number as a probable key to the scam. The scammers apparently used it when posing as a family member to dupe T-Mobile, her sister’s mobile phone carrier, into giving them access to her sister’s phone line, which allowed them to break into her sister’s apps and online accounts.
Enos believes the scammers learned of her sister’s death from an obituary and that they obtained her death certificate as soon as it became available at Boston City Hall, probably by checking online for it daily.
She said she contacted the Globe about her highly stressful experience because she wanted to spare other families what she went through.
“Great news!” Enos said in an email this week after being told of the change in the law. “I’m so glad others will now be able to avoid fraudulent schemes while grieving their loved ones.”
She also urged others to quickly close mobile accounts when there is a death in the family. “Get to your family member’s mobile phone carrier and close the account before the scammers get there,” she said.
Enos said people should think about what happens to their phone number when they die. If you have an iPhone, for example, Apple allows you to set up “legacy contact,” a trusted person who can access your phone after your death with a preset access code and death certificate.
She said you should share with someone you trust an inventory of your apps and online accounts, with instructions on how to get into them after your death.
In the wake of Enos’s story, Secretary of State William F. Galvin and other top state officials spoke out in favor of protecting Social Security numbers.
“Social Security numbers are the most relied upon way to prove your identity, especially for financial accounts,” said Galvin. “It’s the key that unlocks access to financial assets and must be protected.”
Galvin said attempted fraud against the dead may be particularly alarming because it may go undetected until it’s too late, especially for people who die without close relatives aware of their financial accounts.
Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and State Auditor Diana DiZoglio also spoke out in support of the legislative effort.
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