From Death Row to LLC: The Dark Economy of Inmate Identity Theft

They’ve been convicted, sentenced, and locked away with no hope of parole. Yet across Texas, death row inmates are surfacing in the most unlikely of places: on business registrations, in bank loan applications, and behind sophisticated financial fraud schemes. Welcome to the latest frontier in identity-based crime.

We have recently uncovered a fraud ring leveraging the identities of incarcerated individuals, particularly those on death row, to execute "bust-out" schemes. These operations typically involve opening legitimate-seeming bank accounts and registering businesses, building up credit or financial trust, with the ultimate goal of withdrawing large sums and disappearing before the scam is detected. What makes this case unique is the source of the identities.

The financial status of death row inmates

Death row inmates are individuals who have been convicted of the most serious crimes—typically capital murder—and sentenced to die by execution. In states like Texas, which has one of the largest death row populations in the U.S., these individuals spend years, sometimes decades, in near-total isolation while their cases move through appeals. 

It is nearly impossible for a death row inmate to open a bank account as they are effectively shut out of the financial system—by both design and circumstance: Physically, they are held in high-security units with limited or no access to phones, internet, or even routine mail. They can’t appear in person to verify their identity, nor can they participate in a live video call—both standard requirements for opening a modern bank account. Even if they tried, a prison address is often not an acceptable proof of residence. Legally, the barriers are just as stark. While no single federal law explicitly bans inmates from banking, most lose the civil and financial rights needed to enter contracts or engage with institutions like banks. Death row inmates, in particular, are seen as high-risk and are functionally ineligible under most institutions' compliance policies. In short: they are unable to participate in the financial system. 

But that’s precisely what makes their identities so valuable to fraudsters. With names, birthdates, and Social Security numbers pulled from public records or court filings, these individuals become ideal financial ghosts—clean on paper, silent in real life, and unlikely to trigger any alerts. While many in our society assume they’re forgotten, fraud rings are using them to quietly build fake businesses, open accounts, and walk off with the money before anyone notices something is off.

How did we initially find this?

The first case we identified from this ring was brought to our attention by one of our partners, who requested a deeper investigation into an application involving a suspected fake driver’s license. Upon review, we confirmed that the applicant was using a stolen identity—that of an inmate currently on death row in Texas. Further investigation into the listed address revealed that multiple similar applications originated from a single, small apartment (see image below). All these applications had two consistent features: the application purported to be from a death row inmate and was using an aol.com email address.

Apartment building associated with the fraudulent applications. 

Uncovering the Modus Operandi 

To initiate our investigation, we obtained a complete list of death row inmates from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and conducted a comprehensive manual review of each identity against our own data. This review revealed that nearly 10% of identities belonging to Texas death row inmates had been fraudulently used to apply for bank accounts. Many of the fraudulent applications appeared to have been submitted in late March 2023, suggesting a coordinated effort rather than isolated incidents of identity theft.

Several key patterns supported this conclusion:

• Inmate age: 70% of the stolen identities belonged to individuals born in the late 1970s to early 1980s.
• Time of incarceration: 78% of inmates whose identities were stolen had been incarcerated after 2010.
• Phone Carrier Overlap: Multiple fraudulent applicants used the same mobile carrier.
• Address Clustering: Several applications were linked to the same residential addresses.
• Email Handle Similarity: The email addresses followed a common structure—typically combining the stolen identity’s name with legacy domains like @aol.com or @yahoo.com.
• Submission Patterns: Applications were submitted to a limited set of partners, predominantly credit unions and credit-building institutions.

Consistent patterns are typically associated with organized fraud ring activity, rather than independent acts of fraud.

From death row to business registration  

The coordinated use of Texas death row inmates’ identities in account opening schemes was itself compelling—but it wasn’t the full story. Further investigation revealed that some of these stolen identities were also used to establish new businesses, including registering those businesses with the appropriate government agencies.

For instance, Ronald Haskell, incarcerated in 2014, was linked to a new business registered in his name in June 2023. The listed address for this business was located in Arlington, Texas.

News report announcing Haskell's sentence. 

Open Corporates page showing the company ostensibly tied to Haskell.

When we investigated the address and associated businesses further, we identified another company operating in the landscaping sector, also registered in June 2023. However, the identity used for this landscaping business did not appear on our list of known inmates. A quick public search explained why: the individual tied to this identity was indeed a death row inmate (incarcerated in 2011), but had been executed in early 2025 (see report below).

News report announcing Nelson's execution. 

Open Corporates page showing the company ostensibly tied to Nelson. 

Using our internal fraud investigation tools to dig deeper, we discovered that the individuals using the two inmates’ identities had also used them to rent apartments. Both identities were most recently associated with an apartment building in Texas as of 2025. Interestingly, the rental history tied to one of these identities was extensive—spanning properties in Maryland, California, and Texas, beginning in 2023.

Apartment building that two inmate identities rented. 

Summary and conclusion 

What began as an investigation into a curious case of identity fraud involving a single Texas death row inmate quickly expanded into an investigation of a far more elaborate scheme—one that reaches into business formation, apartment leasing, and potentially, a broader fraud network exploiting inmates' identities.

These findings highlight the sophistication and evolving nature of identity fraud—particularly the creative and chilling reuse of identities belonging to incarcerated and deceased individuals. It's a stark reminder of the importance of cross-institutional data sharing, vigilance in identity verification, and the power of investigative tools in surfacing hidden patterns in fraud.

As the lines between physical and digital footprints continue to blur, so too must our approach to detection and prevention. What appears on the surface as a single data point—an account, a lease, a business registration—may, in fact, be part of a much larger, coordinated operation.