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How the Social Security Death Master File works, why banks, the IRS, and credit bureaus all find out at different speeds, and why the gap between death and notification is the most exploited window in American identity fraud.

In the weeks after NASCAR driver Greg Biffle's death, someone drained his bank accounts, compromised his wife's Venmo, and walked through his home for six hours. The exploit followed a pattern fraudsters use against grieving families every day—and the vulnerability window is mostly preventable.