Poor Madeline Coburn. She’s not dead, but her credit is. A mix up at her bank and a mysterious phone call led to her being listed as dead.

She’s not, but now she can’t get credit for anything. The trouble started when she closed an account with her bank. The bank listed her as dead and then sold the information to “an outside agency” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Coburn said she then contacted the agency and was told someone had called an old phone number of hers to update her information. Someone who answered the phone said that he was a relative and that Coburn had died in November.

Yeah, that was just some guy who had her old phone number and wanted to get the weirdo who was calling him at dinner off the phone. Sigh.

You’d think this would be easy to clear up? Nope. Madeline walks around with a stack of emails from her bank and other agencies crying out for help. She’s tried the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and 14 other federal and state agencies. She’s had to drop out of school because her loans have been cut off. She hasn’t got any money for a lawyer to prove she’s alive, and she can’t borrow… well, you get the idea. Poor thing.

Anyone want to take her case? She’s in St. Louis. Listen for the sound of tears. —MEGHANN MARCO

False report of death puts woman’s life on hold [St. Louis Post-Dispatch] (Thanks, Ian!)
(Photo: cmorran123)

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