Medical Identity Theft

Medical Identity Theft occurs when criminals obtain your health insurance identification or social security number to get health care. That means your medical history and health care can include someone else’s information. This form of Identity Theft can be life threatening.

There are over 47,000,000 people in the U.S. without Health Insurance

Stolen Health Insurance Card are being sold on the black market for $500-$600 each ! (AARP)

Anndorie Sacks almost lost custody of her kids when a meth user stole her identity and had a baby in Sacks name then walked out leaving her newborn behind.
Child Protective Services called and the investigator said “your newborn tested positive for drugs”. Sacks recalls saying “What did you mean I did not just have a baby”
The agents response was “Don’t try to pull that on me” She notified Sacks that CPS was ready to take custody of Sacks four children
- Good Housekeeping Aug 2007

Social Security Identity Theft

A Chicago woman “applied for a job at a local Target department store and was denied. The reason? She already worked there – or rather, her Social Security number already worked there. Follow-up investigation revealed the same Social Security Number … was used to obtain work at 37 other employers.
(MSNBC)

10,000,000 Social Security Numbers are bought and sold every six weeks

Driver’s License Identity Theft

An 82 year old grandmother suddenly found herself in what she describes as a ‘living hell’ after one of her neighbors was arrested on drunk–driving charges and pretended to be her. She received medical bills totaling $9,000 for her neighbors injuries and a summons notifying her that a woman hurt in the accident had filed a $50,000 lawsuit against her. This grandmother was also arrested multiple times for a crime she never committed. (AARP Bulletin)


Our Driver’s License has become an unofficial National Identification Card

Identity Theft is Spiraling Out of Control

Over 218 million American’s Identities have been reported lost or stolen since Feb 2005. – PrivacyRights.org

Over 400,000 Dead People opened Bank accounts last year. – AARP

The revenue from trafficking financial data has surpassed that of drug trafficking. – Secret Service March 2007

“Identity Theft is poised to increase by a factor of 20 over the next two years. The criminals are still trying to figure out what to do with all the data.” – USATODAY October 11 2006

Identity Theft: The Business Time Bomb

Most everyone has heard of identity theft (IDT), yet unless you have been a victim, few people consider that they are at high risk. An alarming figure is that over half of the 10 million new IDTs each year originate from a place of business, employer, or other entity (not-for-profit or local, state, or federal government).
All entities and certain individuals are required under one or more federal and state laws to implement measures, policies, procedures, and employee training on privacy and security of nonpublic personal information to bring IDT under control. Violations of these laws carry substantial penalties and open entities to legal risks.
What is identity theft? Simply and broadly stated, it is the misuse of personal or business identifiers by an imposter for their advantage, which may be financial, non-financial, or both.
Personal identifiers include name, date of birth, social security number, and others, including account and biometric information.
Business identifiers include the business name and Federal Tax ID, business indicia, account information, and the personal identifiers of management and employees, which can be used to authenticate a business identity.

P2P Identity Thief Sentenced

A Seattle man has been sentenced to four years in prison in a case that prosecutors said was the first federal case against someone using file-sharing software to steal identities.
Gregory Kopiloff, 35, was sentenced to 51 months in prison on Monday, according to a report in the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Kopiloff pleaded guilty in November to mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and accessing a protected computer without authorisation to further fraud. Kopiloff used programs such as LimeWire to gain access to personal information in tax returns, credit reports, bank statements and student financial aid applications of more than 50 people, according to a news release from the US Attorney's Office. He then used the information to buy and resell more than $73,000 (£35,000) in merchandise, the release said.
While music and movie piracy cases are common, the Justice Department called Kopiloff's prosecution its first case against someone accused of using peer-to-peer programs to commit identity theft.