Thousands of thieves have been using pictures of deceased children to run scams on Facebook. In the case of one English mother, the 37 year-old found pictures of her deceased daughter on a Facebook page asking for donations to help pay for a heart transplant.

The donations link went to a personal PayPal account, and an investigation tracked the Facebook page to Jamaica. However, authorities told the woman she does not have an identity theft case since money was not directly stolen from her.

An estimated 140,000 deceased children become victims of identity theft each year. Social Security numbers of deceased Americans are published online by the Social Security Administration, a site that can be accessed by anyone.

If your identity has been stolen and your credit compromised, contact the Houston identity theft lawyers of the Russell Van Beustring P.C., at 713-973-6650.