Death Master File
Coverage of Death Master File in the Nexus archive.
- What scammers do the week your spouse dies
Scammers exploit the death of a spouse by accessing death certificates filed by funeral homes, which are shared with data brokers and government databases. Automated scrapers monitor obituaries to accelerate the exposure of personal information, enabling targeted scams. The Social Security Administration's Death Master File is updated weekly, providing scammers with critical data.
- Data broker opt-out steps widows should take in 90 days
The article highlights how data brokers collect and sell personal information, enabling scammers to target widows with phishing scams. It explains that details from obituaries, death records, and probate filings create detailed profiles accessible to fraudsters, urging widows to remove their data from people-search sites and limit obituary details to prevent exploitation.