smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

Every year UK businesses waste £30 million delivering around 22 million items of direct mail to the homes of deceased individuals, or so new figures from database firm Mortascreen suggest.

According to Mortascreen director Karen Webster, the problems associated with this phenomena are legion. Cost is clearly a factor, but firms continuing to mail individuals after they have passed away are also running the risk of damaging their own reputations and making life easier for identity fraudsters.

‘Each year the largest number of complaints about direct marketing relate to mailings and telephone calls to the homes of recently bereaved people,’ Webster points out. ‘Moreover, deceased impersonation or concealment fraud has become one of Britain’s fastest-growing crimes and, with over 70,000 recorded cases in 2004, now accounts for over a third of all identity fraud cases nationwide.’

These problems considered, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has established a Deceased, Do Not Contact List, which accepts registrations from family members and friends. All DMA members are provided with (and obliged to honour) this list. Several other organisations, Mortascreen included, provide details of deceased individuals who should be removed from marketing lists.

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