Acting as a fiduciary of the information provided, clients trust firms with protecting that information from identity theft.

  Most firms experience staff turnover as a normal part of business and want to trust employees. But the fact is 1 in 10 death care firms will experience some form of employee theft. This theft may be small amounts of petty cash or $100,000. But if employees are taking money, selling someone’s identity from the firm file cabinet is not too far a step.

  It is critical all pre-need files are kept secure at all times, and limited access to completed files is a smart additional step. The information in a pre-need file contains everything someone needs to request a credit card or commit other financial crimes that could impact clients.

  The following practices help protect firms with pre-needs:

•     File cabinets housing pre-need files should be kept locked.

•     Firms with pre-need information on computer should consider keeping those files password protected.

•     Pre-need contracts should be pre-numbered and issued to the person who is writing the pre-need. Establish and implement a process to track voided contracts. Without such a procedure, contracts can be issued without being processed; because the sale is unaccounted, the sales person can discretely keep the money.

  Credit cards are used to pay bills, including the expenses of a funeral for a family member.  Most death care business use a credit card swipe machine, but many times that machine is not available when the transaction takes place.  When a credit card payment is made off premises or phoned in, the required information is transcribed onto paper and entered into the credit card terminal manually. 

  But consider what happens to the paper used to record the information. It should be destroyed to protect the purchaser’s personal information, but many times it is retained in the file.

  These are only a few of the areas and procedures to review to reduce the risk of identity theft. Depending on policies and procedures, there are certainly many ways to address the relevant issues of identity theft.