From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Fri Aug 18 14:39:25 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k7IKdPjb015726; Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:39:25 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k7IKdOTf001076 for ; Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:39:24 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k7IHxYFI017102 for ; Fri, 18 Aug 2006 13:59:34 -0400 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k7IHxYek017101 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Fri, 18 Aug 2006 13:59:34 -0400 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.27.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id k7IDsCFI016546 for ; Fri, 18 Aug 2006 09:54:12 -0400 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k7IGXpWH006494 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:33:51 -0600 X-Envelope-From: DGreen8320@aol.com Fri Aug 18 10:33:50 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k7IGXojb006482 for ; Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:33:50 -0600 Received: from imo-d20.mx.aol.com (imo-d20.mx.aol.com [205.188.139.136]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k7IGXmFn022971 for ; Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:33:49 -0600 Received: from DGreen8320@aol.com by imo-d20.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v38_r7.6.) id e.422.5d843980 (58550) for ; Fri, 18 Aug 2006 12:33:38 -0400 (EDT) From: DGreen8320@aol.com Message-ID: <422.5d843980.321745e2@aol.com> Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 12:33:38 EDT To: ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" X-Mailer: 9.0 Security Edition for Windows sub 5329 X-Spam-Flag: YES X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] Re: Stolen Identity...and genealogy I too received letters and phone calls from an agency beginning one year after my mother had passed. I too had a different name and lived in a different area. Even though her estate was closed, I still pursued it to make sure that all bills were paid. Again, the agency would not tell how they had my name. I learned that charges had been made to her name for items bought after a time that she could not have possibly done...she was in a nursing facility. After much checking, I learned from one, who in his past had been employed by a collection agency, that sometimes, a person's obituary was used to track family members. In my effort to have a "good" genealogical record, I had written a very detailed obituary. When other family members with different names and different states began receiving the same contacts, I knew that "my genealogical obituary" was the root of our contacts. Because I was concerned as you were over possible identity theft, ect., I simply gave my information to our attorney who wrote a letter on behalf of all family members. All contacts ceased. I knew that I was "protected" by the closed estate, but I pursued it anyway. The use of her name and the implication of unpaid bills concerned me. It was an unpleasant journey, but an interesting lesson learned. Would I still write the obituary as I did....absolutely! On a lighter note, a friend went through similar circumstances...after many calls, she simply told the caller that if she had the number to heaven...she would give it to them, but unfortunately, she didn't have it....they quit calling! Subject: [ROOTS-L] Stolen Identity? > > My Dad died a little over 2 years ago and yesterday someone called my > home phone looking for my Dad. They asked for him by his entire name > including his middle initial. I was floored, we have different last > names and we live in a different state. I asked this young man (who > spoke broken > English) how did he get my phone number? He replied that he could not > give out that information. I ended the conversation by hanging up on > him.