Posts from ‘December, 2008’

Medical identity theft is defined as the theft or unauthorized use of a person’s personal information to obtain unauthorized medical goods and services, says Byron Hollis, managing director of the national anti-fraud department for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Sometimes, it’s a family member who doesn’t have health insurance who uses your card to [...]

Here are some simple tips you can follow when filing your taxes to help reduce your risk of identity theft.  Whether you file your taxes online or by mail you should be sure to protect your personal information.Â
Filing Taxes Online:

Choose a tax filing service you are familiar with. The IRS doesn’t offer software or direct [...]

Increased vigilance against Medicaid fraud by state agencies has prevented more than $100 million in Medicaid overpayments during the past three years, according to a joint report released Dec. 29 by the Florida Attorney General’s office and the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
The report said the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered over [...]

In the first 11 months of 2008 there have been a record number of corporate data breaches -588 companies have been responsible for compromising the private information of more than 33 million people. Beyond the damaged or lost relationships with customers and the bad publicity, there are legal and economic consequences that can compound the [...]

Congress should consider taking legislative steps to strengthen procedures that private-sector organizations use to authenticate their customers’ identities, the FTC recommended in a report on Social Security numbers and identity theft. Currently, the only private-sector entities subject to nationwide authentication standards are financial institutions regulated by the federal banking agencies and the FTC said lawmakers [...]

Here are The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) thoughts for the upcoming year. The following items are ITRC’s predictions for 2009:
Real Estate-based scams: There are multiple scams that attack the equity in a home or which may be used to establish a whole new home loan. Home Equity or Mortgage Frauds can be found on [...]

An e-mail phishing scam that claims to come from U.S. Bank contains U.S. Bank logos and graphics has been sent out to many Utah residents.  The email tells recipients that they are required to sign up for a program called “Verified by Visa” and provide their personal account information through a Web link.
The message also [...]

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is aware of public reports of an email scam circulating that is targeting holiday travelers. The email messages related to this scam appear to come from legitimate major airlines and contain a .zip attachment.  This .zip attachment appears to contain a purchase invoice and flight ticket. If [...]

If you think you have become a victim of identity theft it is important to act quickly to minimize the damage. It is very important to keep good notes of all conversations and records of all correspondence with your financial institutions and law enforcement agencies, including a log of the names, dates and phone number [...]

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites on the web, especially with teenagers and young adults. But it’s also a pretty common tool that identity thieves use to gain access to personal information.
For example, a new worm is spreading through Facebook that entices users to click a link to find out what [...]