A ripe target for identity thieves: Prisoners on death row

Scammers are making money by stealing the identities of some of the most isolated people in the U.S.: inmates on death row.

Scammers are making money by stealing the identities of some of the most isolated people in the U.S.: inmates on death row.

A report published Monday by the identity verification company SentiLink finds that an ongoing scam operation takes the identities of inmates slated for execution in the state of Texas in order to build credit and steal money from lenders.

The identities are used in so-called “bust out” scams, where criminals steal or fake identities in order to build credit with a financial institution, sometimes over a period of months or even years, then quickly max out a loan or credit card advance and disappear with the money. Credit reporting company TransUnion estimated in February that bust-out scams now cost the banking industry $1 billion a year.

The scam, which started in March 2023, appears to exploit the fact that inmates on death row are largely cut off from the outside world, making them unlikely to see correspondence that might alert them to the fact that credit cards or businesses were opened in their name.

“They wouldn’t receive text or email alerts from a financial institution,” said Robin Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit. “Most prisoners are indigent and have few, if any, financial resources.”