They can not work or claim benefits and pensions and so can not earn or be paid. They are unable to apply for credit, take out a mortgage, enrol in colleges or universities, hold a drivers' licence, be admitted to a hospital, hold or open a bank account, get prescription medications, the list goes on and on.
In the eyes of the law, they are no longer recognised.
It is both a virtual and literal death.
Very fortuitous for the criminally inclined though. I read of one case where a high-ranking member of a crime family paid the big bucks to get his own death certificate, knowing he would soon be up in court.
Even though he was highly recognisable and standing right in front of the judge on a murder charge the case could not proceed because his death certificate, a legal binding document, trumped even his own blatantly obvious presence.
If ever you needed proof that the law is an ass then this is it.
The onus is then on you to prove you do actually exist, which of course requires endless red tape and possibly months of dealing with a flawed legal and bureaucratic system not to mention the horde of problems mentioned above, that you will have to contend with in doing so.
The simple option would be to pay the ransom demanded of you and literally get your life back.
But what if you don't have it or the motivation behind the scam is simply menace and mischief and not money? You're pretty well screwed.
Imagine if the target was the sole income earner for the family. In an instant, everything they had built and worked for would collapse around them, affecting not just them but their entire family and beyond. It would be crippling.
Right now the fastest growing insurance in the States is the one that protects against identity theft but with the law as it currently stands how can you possibly create one to counter false death when legally you're already viewed as dead?
The laws surrounding this issue need to be amended urgently.
Insane as it is cruel, this new scam may just be as close to the perfect crime as you are ever going to get.
And once again the law favours the criminal in cases like this. A well-funded one can just as easily assume a new identity safe in the knowledge that as long as they stay dead any outstanding charges will in all likelihood be dropped.
There's no denying it, we live in scary times.
Just when you think you've seen the worst acts of human nature some depraved mind discovers a way to sink to new depths.
How long before the first Kiwi falls victim to this despicable act?
I'm not sure that our death certificates are held in the same legal standing but my advice to you is to guard your online presence with your life because you may not have a legal leg to stand on in death.
