Calgary police will likely have to disinter a fraudster's corpse to determine his real name. (QMI Agency)

CALGARY - City police may have to exhume the body of a man who took a living acquaintance's identity to his grave.

It took a routine traffic stop last April to begin unravelling the mystery of an Asian man who died in Foothills hospital in May 2009 bearing the Alberta health and social insurance numbers of a gambling buddy.

When that casual casino friend was questioned by police in April 2010, the name he provided came back as that of another man who'd died a year before, said Det. Carlos de Menezes.

"He was taken to arrest processing to substantiate his identity - he was marked as deceased," said de Menezes.

It was then determined the hospitalized man had stolen his pal's identity before dying of natural causes.

An emergency contact supplied by the identity thief came forward to arrange a small funeral and burial in Queen's Park Cemetery in early June 2009.

But at that time, nobody knew of the stolen identity, which police believe was pilfered from the victim's residence.

"He had access to the victim's home that was given to him by the victim," said de Menezes.

And there's been no apparent monetary abuse of the assumed identity, said the detective.

"The only gain he was able to get was to obtain Alberta health service ... the question is why would he steal the identity when when everyone qualifies for health care?" said de Menezes, who doesn't know if the dead man was a recent immigrant.

Friends only knew the now-deceased man by his Chinese nickname, Golo, which means "tall guy."

"There's a grave marker in Queen's Park Cemetery bearing the victim's name," said de Menezes.

Police, he said, will likely have to disinter the fraudster's corpse to determine his real name.

"I think it's a necessary step because taking someone at their word got us into this problem in the first place," said the cop.

As for the innocent victim who's chosen anonymity, said Menezes, he's still struggling to re-establish and rescue his official personhood from the grave.

"He's grossly annoyed it's caused him all these inconveniences, taking stock of what he may or not be responsible for financially," he said.

Golo is described as Asian, 44 to 55 years of age, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, and wore glasses and an earring in his left ear.

It's believed he lived in the Calgary area for several years before his death.