Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I have a question for you, and I'll tell you.
I was reading about this woman. She is from Virginia Beach.
Where she's from. I don't really think matters. Well, I know,
it doesn't matter when when when somebody, when somebody passes away,
right for any reason, for any reason, does does somebody?
(00:24):
And I don't if this happened with my dad, I
certainly don't have any memory of it, and of course
my brother was so young.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
But like.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Your parents, Scott's yours, does somebody have to notify Social Security?
I don't remember, Like, how does it? How does it
become official with a government? And well, I understand you
(00:56):
get a desertific in Yeah, but I could hand you
a desertife. How does it? How does it does the
does whoever hands you the death certificate do they file
it with the government or is that on the funeral home? Yeah?
But what if you don't go to a funeral exactly?
(01:17):
So that seems too specific. There's a woman named Jamie,
does do you zz Maybe it's Dus that's an awesome
last name. Yeah, does that sounds like a nickname?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Jamie does? Hey does Jamie? Oh? Jamie does? Anyway? You
know how we will make fun of the commercial of
Jennifer Coolidge. Well, how do I prove I'm not a robot?
This poor woman is like, how do I prove I'm alive?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Somebody submitted her as being dead?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yes, and and she can't get undead.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Is she older?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
No, well I shouldn't say that. I don't know exactly
how old she is. But in the I see a
video of her.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Yeah, she does not look at all. No, how does
she find out she was reported as dead.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
That they're still waiting on answers of She is considered
in public records, including the Social Security Administration, as being dead.
She said, my situation is absolute. Hell, I feel like
I am non existent on this planet. I can't get
a credit report, I can't get health insurance. In December,
(02:35):
Chime Banking shut down her debit card because they were
informed she was dead.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Is this a new scam?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
No, so they so I don't know. Some some news
organization was working with her. They called Chime Banking and
the manager was like, yes, her debit account has been
closed because she is dead. And is she sitting there
(03:04):
with the reporter, yes, yes, and the guy She's like,
I'm right here. He came back on the phone, and
he was like, yes, I can confirm with management you
are dead. And she's like, no, honestly, I'm right here.
And they said why would you close the account and
(03:25):
they said because Jamie is dead.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Yeah, but did they get word from like the Social
Security Administration?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I have no idea. Then this has been going on
a while. Two years ago at her doctor's office. Every
time they tried to build my insurance it would not
go through because I had been declared deceased by the
Social Security Administration. Last February and December, the Social Security
Administration delayed supplemental security income for her son, saying that
(03:57):
it was delayed until we can find a representative a
representative paye to receive his payments. And she's like, I
am that person. I'm his mom. And they were like,
but you're dead. So now she's trying to get through
to the Social Security Administration to try to get it changed.
(04:18):
And she's like, I don't know what proof I can offer.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
You except to say here, I am.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Like, what are you going to bring them? Here's my
birth certificate, right which you got when you're alive. Here's
where you're dead, Like, how do you get undead, So
whether or not it's the funeral home, somebody is reporting
to the SSA, the Social Security Administration is there, So
(04:44):
I can't see that the Social Security Administration is then
reaching out to Chime, is Chime or whatever bank you
may use, or like you said, she's having trouble with
insurance Sealth insurance. Do they have some like real time
monitoring of your status with the SSA? Is that how
(05:05):
it would he would for Chime? How would they know that?
I don't think the SSA is calling Chime no, but
I mean how I so, so every time that there's
an update and death, it says banking and it gets
sent to there, or it gets sent to Wells Fargo
or it gets sent to wherever. Or is Chime constantly
having to check with the SSSA that I don't know.
(05:29):
Last month, Jamie interviewed at a Virginia Beach food Lion.
When they put through her application, the Social Security and
An Administration cannot determine that you are authorized work here?
Why is that because you're dead? Like a food Lion
told her, you have twenty days to resolve this, and
she's like, I can't. This has been going on for years.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Like you're the first person that's told me to resolve it.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
She's like, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Right,
life is hard, but this would be so frustrating because
it's beyond black and white. This is not There is
less than zero question s to her status living or dead. Actually,
you're wrong. How she's more dead than she is alive.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
There's a gray area for the third parties that are
calling upon her status.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
She's living, but I have more documentation and things that
would point to her being dead. I'd be so angry.
I don't know how she's even thinking of laughing because
it's been two years. Like at some point, you hit
your head enough against the wall, you laugh. But it's
ruining her life. Yes, that she was very clear about.
(06:44):
Could you imagine food lion?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Please?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Sorry, you're dead. Well, they gave her twenty days. Now,
I will hold this position for you. I do have
somebody else that's waiting right here, who, by the way,
is alive. I'd like to give them the job. But
you've got two weeks to prove to us you're alive.
But I don't know. I don't I don't know what
that process is. And like the the some representative. I
(07:09):
can't even say representative. Somebody at the Social Security Administration
made it sound like, uh, don't come at us.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
We like we processed it just like thousands of other
ones that we do every day.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
But does it start somewhere and then get passed to
the Secret Secret Service to the Social Security Administration? Like
is there an office before that? Oh, like a local
office for the any office? I have no idea.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
That's why it's got to be if you go through
a funeral home, because they handle a lot of paperwork
and it's not just this.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I bet they are supposed to.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
And we've talked about sketchy funeral homes before, so they're
not all the most reputable. I bet if you go
through a funeral home.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
They do it because I know, like, like, don't you
get several copies of a death certificate so you can
use it for like the phone company and Netflix?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I mean it seems silly to say, but they do.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
A lot of places won't require a death certificate Robby.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, like like if if you like, because my dad
was in a rental place, like we had to show
that to be able to break the lease.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Yeah, Like like the Washington Post put me through uh
friggin hoops to cancel my mom's subscription.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And in order to cancel it, like what hoops, didn't
you just call it and go.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
The death certificate? Really for a newspaper?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Okay, people try to cheat us all the time.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I am because God forbid. Oh my god, she she
got Sunday that's the big one.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
But you can get can't you get certificate copies through
the Department of Health.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
I feel like we once once you had copies copies
was not how cult?
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Right?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, and go to like Anny his copy machine.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Now, but you wanted like legit copies from them.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Because because the Washington Post is going to be like
they're going to authenticate it.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
They thought they were real important.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Hi Elliott the Morning, Yeah, Hi, who's this?
Speaker 7 (09:22):
That's lending?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (09:24):
I was pin because so about I guess My son
was about ten years old at the time. His father
had passed away, and we were living overseas because the
stepfather was military, so we had to blew home, did
the funeral, all that stuff had to take into social charity,
get benefit or whatever. And when we it was probably
we were back probably about a month after the funeral
(09:46):
him stuff, and we were going through the military gate
and we were scanning my son by d card, and
they kept telling him that he was deceased, even though
he was standing literally right in front of them, and
we I ended up having to go through all these tubes.
They ended up my son and his father have the
same name.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
That's what I was gonna ask.
Speaker 7 (10:06):
Yeah, So they ended up deceasing both of them in
the security system, and I had to take them. And
we were living in Korea, so I had to take
my son. They would not, you know, verify with me
face on whatever to me as his mother physically saying no,
my son is alive, and well I'm looking at him
and standing in front of me embassy as a whole
(10:30):
so they can actually see him to say that he
wasn't deceased.
Speaker 8 (10:34):
It took like six months.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Oh my god, Oh my god. Now the good news
is I feel like and obviously six months you would know.
The good news is at least you can go to
the embassy, like there's some place to go and and
maybe try to get it figured out. Could you imagine
doing that in a country where you don't speak the language.
It's bad enough they're telling you he's deceased and you're going, hey,
(10:58):
there's a little bit of a breakdown here, but I'm
not understanding you and you're not understanding me. That would
be torture.
Speaker 7 (11:04):
Oh, it was this disaster, like his health insurance. I
couldn't even take him to the doctors on the military
base because every system was like connected and they all
said he was deceased, and I'm like, you're looking at him,
he's not.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
All right. Very good, very good, Thank you, ma'am, thank you.
Hi Ellie in the morning. See, yeah, hi, who's this.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
I'm gonna get my name because I've been dead and
I took him the pain they asked to sorry, painted
the buck to fix. But I also didn't have to
pay taxes for a long time.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
How did you end up? How did you? How did
you first learn that you were dead?
Speaker 6 (11:48):
So it was ridiculous. I ordered a bape what years
ago from some company in Florida, and uh, for whatever reason,
like it didn't show up and it was I don't know,
a week or two like past when I was supposed
to arrive. So I called the company and they're like, wait,
(12:14):
who is this And I was like, this is my
full name, including the junior and they're like, dude, we
got this return to Stender because my whole name is deceased.
And I was like, what, like the post office like
(12:35):
sent it.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Back to them, and did you did you try to
do other things? Like first of all, I don't even
understand how would the vape get to the post office
to know that you're dead.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
I have no idea, but it made it make a
lot more sense because I've been working or I've been
working out since I was sixteen years old, and I
struggled really hard to file tax returns. But when I
went into a uh, you know, tip based restaurant, all
that jazz industry, I was like, all right, well I'll
(13:09):
get my money back by just not paying them.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
I get it.
Speaker 8 (13:12):
But yeah, so I have no idea how it happened.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
The guy was I was. I was like, all right, man,
can you like take a picture of this and send
it to me? He's like he, but yeah, he texted
me a picture.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
So wait, are you? Are you alive now?
Speaker 8 (13:28):
I am hanging in there by a thread, I guess no, no,
but no.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
I actually, honestly I don't know.
Speaker 8 (13:34):
How I fixed it. It was so frustrating, but one
when it came time to actually try to get you know,
when I did want to have like start getting tax returns.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
I'm not gonna lie. I don't remember what I did.
It was like two o'clock in the morning, and I
got wasted and got ahold of the Social Security people
and somehow resolved it. I don't know how.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
You know what good for you though?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Could you imagine?
Speaker 6 (14:01):
I was a lot of phone calls and uh, just
a lot of run around when I was sober, I remember,
but uh, one night I was just drunk and pissed
off and I was like, I wonder if they're open,
and I.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
All right, dude, I appreciate it, Thank you, sir. Vaping kills,
how do you end up? I can't make that connection
that the vape was going, that the company was going
to send him as vape, but it got returned by
the post office, so the post office had gotten word
that he was dead.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
The Post Office obviously has ties to the SSA as
a federal Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
No, I get that. But so anybody who dies, and
I would understand why you would want their mail to stop.
I would. My thought is like if if if if
my dad died, not if he did somebody. I'm assuming
my sister had to notify the post Office stop mail delivery,
Like I wouldn't think that such and such triggers the
(15:08):
Social Security Administration, which then triggers the post Office. But
is it a domino?
Speaker 4 (15:15):
There's a lot of people that don't have next of kin?
Are we Is this going back to the banking situation.
Is there a scraping of some sort of database and
they're able to get information about potential So everybody that's done.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Everybody that dies gets put into a database. And then
whether it's the banking industry, the mail industry, every industry,
food line apparently, but any of them. It it's always
pulling wells. Fargo is always looking for their customer. I
(15:52):
think it's a good theory. But how would they even
know if I died? If I died, right, how do
they know where I bank? They don't. It's the it's
on the vendors to pull the information, right No, No, okay,
So I get that. But if if there's more than
one Elliott Seagull in the world.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
I bet a lot of these problems are caused by
similar names.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Oh see, I feel like they're all going to be juniors,
and they're not. Jason writes, So if you're if you're
will Smith, how many how many you look at the
risk you run?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
So what are you telling people like, preemptively change your name.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Jamie does.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
That's the thing to say that name is so we'd
be commented on the uniqueness of that name.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
It she's still got its. Maybe that's a bad theory.
Jason s SSA claimed I was dead. How does this
happen to so many people? Took me three years and
multiple visits to show I am not dead. Wouldn't process taxes,
I had credit cards canceled. Woof. I will say this,
(17:03):
I would never pay taxes again again. You're you're you're
mixed up in this when every year you just go,
I guess they messed me up against I sent them.
I saw I sent ninety five thousand dollars this year.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I've been trying to pay.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
That's like when those people go to f something that's
illegal anyway, They go to file taxes and they learn
someone I already has claimed their return.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Oh line one, I'd rather be dead. Hi Elliott the morning,
faked dead, fakedad?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Hi is this me?
Speaker 8 (17:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (17:35):
Hi?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Who's this?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
This is Rosario and Connin because I said they had
a similar situation where a bank of mine thought they
labeled me as deceased after my father had passed away.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Are you a Rosario? Are you a junior?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
A junior? I mean I'm gonna be thirty seven in
a month, so no.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
No, no, I mean is your Is your name the
same as your father's?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
We I have the same My middle name and last
name were the same as his first name and last name,
so my first name is completely different.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Oh okay, so you're not a junior. The chat how
long were you dead? For?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
The bank had me deceased for about six eight months,
so I didn't have any access to certain accounts for
that time.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
What do you do about your money? Like, how are
you supposed to pay for anything?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
So luckily they didn't. They didn't close my accounts because
of the mistakes they made. But I mean, I had
another bank I was using, but from what they told me,
some new hire came in and they didn't check social
security or address, and we even brought a death certificate.
But I was the one that ended up deceased, and
I think I had to secretly record them when I
(18:45):
kept going to the bank because it's legal in Virginia.
And I finally got them to fix everything and I
didn't lose anything, but it was just, you know, dealing
with all this like during the holidays wasn't the best.
But yeah, never using that bank again.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Wow, all right, very good, very good, Thank you Rosario
and Danielle Flint. But if you like, for example, here,
like let's say that happened that happened to us, Right,
you have Diane. Diane's dead. She's not she's right here,
but Diane's dead. If you can't access your bank, he
had a second bank, right, I don't have a second bank.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
If you can't, you're screwed.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
If you can't access your bank, you can't pay bills. No,
can you go to Alice and go hey, Well it
wouldn't matter because if they get you'd have to go
to a check cashing place. They take ten percent, those thieves.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
So better, I mean better not have an access to
comt How.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Would you pay your bills? I guess you would have
to go to a check cashing place or can you Yeah,
but they're still giving you a check Like I was
gonna ask him, you get cash.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Oh, because you wouldn't be able to open up an
account elsewhere because you because you're dead A good point.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Right, So you'd have to go to a check cashing joint.
I used to have to do that when I was
When I was Yeah, when I was looked at negatively
over tell a check. So, yeah, I'd have to go
cash my check. They would take so much. Oh, it
used to make me so mad. And they had the
(20:15):
same answer every time. Don't write faulty checks. Oh, it's
easy for you to say, Scott to pay me more
the But could you go to Alice and say, hey, Alice,
take me off of direct deposit. I need to get paid,
but I need to get paid in cash. Can you
(20:40):
get paid in cash? If you can, that's going to
be my Why it can't track that? They what do
they have to track it? What do they have to
track They track it on the employee Come, No, they
tracked that on the employer side. No. If I get
paid in cash, No, But if I got a check,
if I got a check from not not direct deposit,
(21:02):
but a manual check from the company, how's the government
tracking that? They're deaf? Are you kidding me? When they
If I go cash it at a at a check
cashing place. They know my income.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
They definitely are aware that you've received the check.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, they get it from the company, but that's the
company would say we gave him cash. That's not good
if you're trying to act as if you never got
that cash. But no, no, I'm just saying, could you,
because in this case, I can't open a bank account.
I don't want to give up ten percent to the
check cashing joints. Could they? Could I go Alice for
the next let's call it eight months. I need cash,
(21:40):
but think of everything else. You'd have to see her
for health insurance. Oh, I have to buy health insurance
due pay those Now I tried to cash.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
I tried.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
It'd be like after after Strong, very good. If you
like the Beatles, use musical keep leading in their office
and say, you know, the whole being dead thing. I
need to help with this now it is all the stuff.
And now I understand you're trying to get around paying
the government anything, but when you look at all the
(22:14):
deductions and money that's taken out of your of your
gross hate like to see what your take home pay
actually is you That would be her full time job,
would be you being dead it's my full time job.
I'm just taking Alice with me. I can't believe how
many people this happens to. There's a flaw at the Oh.
(22:37):
By the way, we still don't have the answer who
notifies Social Security. A lot of people said in their
cases it was the funeral, funeral, the funeral home, does it, okay?
Not in their cases when they were declared dead, but
just family member, family members. I gotcha, Hi Ellie in
the morning. Hi, who's this? Yes, Laurie, what can I
(22:59):
do for you?
Speaker 9 (23:00):
When my father passed, he left us the greatest gift
and it was the this was the name, the name
of the paper he left us people to contact when
I croak and Social Security was on that list, you
have to contact them. And if your loved one dies
at the end of the month, you have to return that.
Speaker 6 (23:24):
Money for the months.
Speaker 9 (23:27):
So if he gets his social Security check on January one,
he dies on January twenty, you got.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
To return the money.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
No? No, no, By the way, that is that is
the greatest thank you, That is the greatest No, no no.
But that's the greatest tip you learned today. Because if somebody,
if somebody in your family dies at the end of
the month, Slow roll that death day't do it until
do it February two, doing a Groundhog day. Slow roll
that and work with your funeral home. Listen, I know
(23:55):
it's the twenty eighth. Slow roll it. Let's not say anything.
That's very small, very smart. I like that. That's a
life hack, well, a dead hack, but you know what
I mean, got it.
Speaker 8 (24:06):
But there are other things.
Speaker 9 (24:08):
My sister's husband just passed and I can't I think
it was the wonderful irs they had. Somebody needed his
maybe it was even the bank. Somebody needed his signature.
She has their death certificate. We need his signature. Well,
what are you talking about? He's dead, So it was.
It's just a lot. You have to get a lot
of copies of the death certificate, like.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Ten gotcha, gotcha?
Speaker 9 (24:31):
Hey more, and you have to pay for every copy
you get.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
They don't make copies for free.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
She's just not as angry as I love it. All right,
very good, very good, Thank you, ma'am, thank you. That's
the best hack you've learned today. Slow rolls a death notice.
Only die on the first or second. Push it to
the second. The first makes it look a little calculated
so die. On the second, Jamie does ever find out
(24:58):
what her death date was ago, I have no idea. Yeah,
I don't think I have that. At least she is
not alone, if that makes her feel better. They do
say they don't think anybody was fraudulently using her Social
Security number while she was dead, because that was the
(25:22):
other thing she thought, did I get hacked? Right? And
they were like, it doesn't look like anybody tried to
make any claims.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
But how many active cases like this do you think
there are in the States?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Well, how many people die every day? I mean that's
how many active cases there are? Oh, are reported correctly? Oh?
You mean of not dead dead people. Yes, we've heard
from multiple that's the most shocking part. Yeah, hundreds, it's
got to be right, hundreds or everybody that this has
(25:53):
happened to listens to this show. Either way, it's a
ad demographic for us.