Even the dead are not safe from identity thieves. Security specialists are worried about the spike in the recycling of the identities of the dead.Forensic security experts say fraudsters check cemeteries, and trawl online or newspaper obituaries to find a deceased who fit the profile they are looking for.The fraudsters look for a fits in sex, age and race.Dawid Jacobs, a forensic specialist at Strategic Investigations and Seminars, said it had been found that the poor were soft targets.They are "forced to do almost anything to earn enough to feed themselves for the day''."A fraudster can buy the ID book of a deceased family member for as little as R60 and use it to create a fraudulent identity."They can then open bank accounts, obtain credit cards and enter into hire purchase contracts, and order goods and services which will not be paid for," he said.Jacobs said the dead person's family will realise only months later, when debt collectors arrive at their home to demand payment, that their loved ones are not resting in peace.He said this kind of crime is on the increase - and South Africa is one of the three countries with the highest rate of identity theft involving dead people.Jacobs said Britain and Australia are the others in the top three.To prevent such theft, Jacobs said, his company has launched a register of the dead.Relatives of the dead can register free to have their dearly departed included in the Independent Identity Verification database ."Once a deceased identity has been registered, it allows us to prevent that identity from being recycled for crime."If a fraudster attempts to use that identity, it will be flagged by our systems and rejected," Jacobs said.Selaelo Mooko, director of Triple Take Private Investigations, said he was working on at least two cases a week involving identity theft of the dead.He said that in one complex case a dead woman's ID was used to fraudulently make a claim against the Road Accident Compensation Fund."It is growing and it is the work of a sophisticated syndicate. This kind of crime is difficult to detect early enough," he said...