That’s not what identity theft is.
That term is used for impersonating someone else, but generally only for a time and usually online, not in person.
For example, someone gets access to your unlocked phone and uses that to insult your boss on social media in your name, order stuff with your banking details, or sign up for credit cards.

Removed by mod

Multiple disjointed government databases and people not checking each one carefully is how it starts. Once you have an existing account in some one’s name, probably even less checks are done allowing you to exploit the system further. Meanwhile, relatives of the deceased are probably not too concerned about continuing to monitor their credit scores… etc

This reminds me of Office Space when they ask the door to door salesman how to launder money.