by Heather Wells

As someone who works on behalf of victims of id theft, I have seen the cases of medical identity theft increase over the past few years. It’s hard to tell whether this is because medical id theft is becoming more well-known and therefore reported more often by the public, or if this type of fraud is actually growing in number. I think it’s a little of both.

In a recent article from the Chicago Tribune, reporter Judith Graham interviews several id theft experts including Pam Dixon from the World Privacy Forum. Dixon describes most medical id theft perpetrators as “people working in the health-care sector” who have access to people’s social security numbers, insurance information, and health records. According to Dixon, these id thieves sell this type of stolen data for cash or use it themselves to commit fraud upon private health insurance companies and federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

Graham also interviews James Quiggle from the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud in DC, who says that “with almost 50 million people considered uninsured today, medical identity theft may become a growing problem as more people become desperate enough to turn to crime to find treatments that they cannot otherwise get.”

I’ve personally seen victim’s credit reports with collection accounts for ER visits, cancer treatments, and children’s medications. It’s paints a sad story for all involved parties, including the id theft victim, of course.

So, whether it’s done for profit or out of desperation, consumers need to be aware that medical id theft can happen to them and be informed and remain vigilant. People should continually check their credit reports, insurance benefit statements, and health records for discrepencies and fraud.

The World Privacy Forum website has some great information on this topic.

by Doug Pollack

Most of us are unaware of the severe emotional stress that can come about as a result of identity theft. It is gratifying to see the Wall Street Journal exposing this issue so dramatically in today’s article titled “How to Make Identity Theft Worse“.

Ms. Jordan’s article describes poignantly how commonplace it is for illegal aliens to use a citizen’s name and social security number in order to appear legal to their employer. But also how difficult it is and how long that it can take in order to rectify this type of identity theft.

“Audits from the Internal Revenue Service are never welcome. But when Emerita de Jesus received a letter for failing to report earnings at a North Carolina poultry plant, it had a particularly unpleasant twist: The California housewife had never worked at the facility. Instead, a Mexican worker there had used Ms. de Jesus’ name and Social Security number to get hired. The situation caused years of grief for Ms. de Jesus, who fought a protracted battle beginning in 2003 to clear her name with creditors, the IRS and the poultry plant, House of Raeford Farms Inc. The case, which was finally solved a few months ago, isn’t isolated. It is an example of an unexpected consequence of the government’s crackdown on undocumented workers: a surge in identity theft.”

And while this type of identity theft is now on the rise, partially due to more rigorous government requirements that workers provide valid name and social security credentials in order to be employed, the mechanisms to deal with this type of identity theft do not seem to be working. The article goes on to describe what Ms. de Jesus, a legal US resident, went through and how long that it took, to identify and resolve all of the dimensions of this ID theft. Her husband describes how:

“In 2004, however, his wife received another letter from the IRS regarding yet another year’s income that hadn’t been reported. The couple hired a private detective who confirmed a woman continued to work at the House of Raeford under Ms. de Jesus’ name. “We contacted 50 senators, 30 government departments and two governors,” says Ms. de Jesus, who declined to be interviewed but provided a written statement. “The system did not work.”

With 8 million illegal immigrants in the US workforce, this problem is not likely to get better any time soon. We can only hope that the IRS puts in place systems and procedures that enable US citizens and taxpayers to more easily and permanently resolve the effects of this type of identity theft.

By Rebecca Seaman

A modified bill that would allow victims of ID Theft to recoup costs in federal court and which would impose harsher restrictions on cyberattacks passed in the Senate this week. The bill, known as the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act, still needs to be approved by the House, but is a much needed step in the right direction to further protect consumers. More details are available in the July 31 article from SC Magazine.

Interestingly, the bill would make it a felony to use various types of malware known as keyloggers and spyware to damage more than 10 computers, regardless of the extent of the damage. Previously, attacks resulting in less than $5,000 worth of damage were only classified as misdemeanors.

Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a co-sponsor of the bill said in a statement released Thursday: “The Senate’s action moves us in the right direction to provide critical tools to combat cybercrime and to protect the privacy of all Americans. I hope the leadership in the House will quickly act to pass this legislation and send it to the president for signature.”

The incidence of Identity Theft perpetrated through CyberCrime is a fast growing epidemic, and legislation such as this is great initiative to protect consumers from these crimes. However, it’s important that these bills move quickly through Congress if they are going to keep up with scammer’s increasingly sophisticated attacks. Hopefully, this bill and others like it will move rapidly. Stay tuned.