Genealogy websites remove deceased individuals SSN #'s from their listings.
Washington, DC - The world's largest commercial genealogy website this week removed the Social Security numbers of recently deceased individuals, two weeks after lawmakers urged the site, Ancestry.com, to stop enabling ID thieves by posting the sensitive information.
A spokeswoman for the Provo, Utah, company said that "there was some sensitivity" about the company policy of releasing the numbers. That led to a "purposeful decision" to not post the numbers for those who have died in the last 10 years, spokeswoman Heather Erickson said.
An employee with a second website, Genealogybank.com, said that the Naples, Fla., company also has decided to stop posting Social Security numbers.
The moves come six weeks after a Scripps Howard News Service investigation showed how people obtain and use the deceased's Social Security numbers -- which are freely released by the government -- to commit identity fraud, including submitting false tax returns and collecting refunds.
The lawmakers are continuing to press Social Security to limit the information it releases. The agency has said it cannot act until Congress changes the law, and a spokesman did not return a request for comment for this article.
http://scrippsnews.com/content/genealogy-sites-remove-social-security-numbers-deceased