LifeLock Blog

In an article written by the Wall Street Journal medical identity theft is on the rise. They blame the recession among other things for the increase. It only makes since that when people don’t have money and need medical attention and can’t pay for it people will turn to identity theft to solve their problems.

The article makes an example of a Weston, Fl clerk that sold 1,100 Medicare patients’ information through his cousin and made $2.8 Million on the operation. With medical institutions turning to electronic means of storing records this may cause an increase in medical identity theft. Though storing records electronically is beneficial and allows for easy access it also allows easy access to criminals as well. Stealing 1,100 records before computers would have requires boxes and a hand truck, which might of spark suspicion.

Medical identity theft is scary not just because people can run bills up in your name, but also because they can screw up your medical history. Medical-files that commingle between hospitals can hold incorrect information about you, your blood type, and allergies. This could cause detrimental mistakes when it comes to treating you for your medical emergencies.

It’s always a good idea to monitor your credit and your medical records. Check your credit report several times a year for fraud. When you go to the doctor request your medical records so if there ever were any discrepancies you would have the documentation to have your records corrected.

Connecticut’s Health Net lost a computer hard drive and the personal, medical and financial information of roughly 1.5 million members, including 450,000 Connecticut residents, leaving them vulnerable to ID theft, medical ID theft, financial loss, insurance fraud, credit card fraud and public humiliation.

The data breach occurred in May, but Health Net never notified their customers, state officials or law enforcement until last week.

The lost information covers the period from 2002 to the present, and pertains to past and present members from Arizona, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut who

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he was “outraged and appalled” not just by the data loss, but by Health Net’s keeping the information loss under wraps for six months. Their silence could be a violation of Connecticut law, he said. (more…)

A UNIONTOWN, Pa. Woman is being accused of stealing the identities of her father and two children. According to police 32 year old woman Tina Price used the names of her two children 7 and 2 to apply for 25 credit cards. Price is also being accused of using her father’s information to apply for more than 39 credit cards.

Police began investigating when Tina Price’s father received a bill for a computer that he didn’t purchase. Tina Price was arrested on two bench warrants for writing bad checks and then was charged with 64 counts of identity theft.

It’s shocking when you read stories about people taking advantage of their family. Your family is supposed to be the group of people you are closest to in the whole world. This woman chose to take advantage for her own children and father and steal from them. She stole their identities, ruined their credit, and made purchases on the fraudulent cards. I don’t understand how someone could treat their family like that.

The sad thing is when it comes to child identity theft the majority of the time the parents are the ones to blame. It will be a sad day when a child grows up only to find his or her credit was ruined by their parents. In fact many identity thefts involve people you know. So don’t be afraid to protect your private information from those who you think you know.

A bank teller along with 5 other people have been arrested this week for identity theft. The arrests come as part of a crackdown on identity theft rings in South Florida. Florida is 3rd in the nation in identity theft, so it’s no surprise Florida is trying to crack down on it’s identity theft problem.

Curisha Bryant, 21, of West Park worked at a BankAtlantic branch and was allegedly stealing information from customers and giving it her accomplices. The defendants are accused of stealing identities, cashing forged checks, and using stolen credit cards. They were also accused of trying to recruit more people to do the same. There are three other people who are yet to be arrested who share the 21-count federal indictment.

It still scares me when I read about bank tellers, employees of the bank, giving out personal information so they can steal from their customers. Makes you wonder how well bank employees are watched to prevent identity theft. I assume they have security in place to make sure they don’t stealing money from their drawers. Why wouldn’t they put security in place to prevent employees from stealing information about their customers as well. Is it just me or does that make a whole lot of sense?

I hope they find the other three people who are yet to be arrested. I also look forward to reading more stories of further crackdowns on identity theft in South Florida. It’s about time they get serious about trying to catch and take down the identity theft rings that reside in Florida.

Tomorrow November 17, 2009 the AAA Auto Club South will be hosting an identity theft workshop with the help of the leader in identity theft protection LifeLock. The identity theft workshop is aimed at educating the Florida AAA customers about the threat that identity theft presents. The workshop will also educate the people on the services that LifeLock offers and how they protect Millions of people from identity theft everyday.

It is so nice to see companies like AAA and LifeLock going out of their way to educate the public on identity theft. Identity theft is something that no one wants to happen to them and not many people want to talk about. So it’s good to see companies trying to take the message to the public and at least get people thinking about it.

I was talking to one of my friends just the other day that lives in Orlando. He was telling me that someone broke into his car and didn’t steal anything. Most people don’t think about identity theft when it comes to car break-ins. I was telling him that the person might have been looking for a purse, wallet, or anything to steal his identity with. Orlando is ranked as the number 53 metropolitan area for identity theft complaints. Florida is also ranked 3rd in the nation for identity theft complaints. AAA  Auto Club South is doing a good thing getting their Florida customers educated in the ways of identity theft.

Police are still investigating a security breach at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. The security breach has left a unknown number of victims open to identity theft according to the attorney general’s office.

The Hospital has already sent out letters to the affected former patience of the hospital. The letters expressed that a former employee had accessed patient records for the purpose of applying for credit cards and loans.

The spokesman for the attorney general didn’t know how many people had been sent letters. However, Hugh Williams, who is the coordinator of the identity theft office of the state attorney general’s office, said that the number of people that could have been affected could be significant. He is also not sure when the data breach was discovered, but encouraged people who receive letters to take them serious.

The data breach is still under under investigation. This is a situation that falls under the state law passed last year where businesses are required to inform people promptly of any data breach that could effect them.

Laws like the one past last year in maryland are getting passed all over the US and I think it’s a very good idea. Businesses handle data breaches very differently. Some tend to try and cover it up until the last minute while others do the right thing and informed people early. Laws that force businesses to inform people of data breaches promptly are a step in the right direction.

SmartMetric has developed a SmartCard that has a built in finger print scanner. Without the the proper fingerprint the SmartCard can not be unlocked or used rendering it useless to anyone but the owner. The company believes that their SmartCard is poised to take over the SmartCard Market. They claim it  could eliminate Identity theft, which I doubt.

This device will no doubt be a good security measure if it is accepted by the financial and banking community. But to say that it can prevent or eliminate identity theft is ridiculous. I guess it depends on your definition of identity theft. I view it as a crime of stealing someone’s personal, identifying information for the purpose of using that information fraudulently. Sure so the SmartCard might prevent someone from stealing your existing credit cards, but will not prevent someone from applying for new ones?

The main feature that make this card more secure is the built in finger print scanner that unlocks the card for use. Well as the Mythbusters’ show on the Discovery channel demonstrated you can lift and reproduce a fingerprint to fool a fingerprint scanner. They successfully accomplished this with several different fingerprint scanners and were even successful with scanners that could sense moisture and warmth. If you don’t think criminals would go through the trouble to replicate your fingerprint you’re wrong. If this form of payment got popular enough people would find ways to hack their way into the device quickly and effectively.

So keep your eyes out for the SmartMetric SmartCard, but don’t think for a second that the battle with identity theft is over. It is a long and never ending battle and we must all be cautious and prepared.

Somehow consumers aren’t making the connection between receiving a data breach notification and later becoming an identity theft victim, according to a new study. As a result, people whose information has been compromised in a data breach are four times more likely to become victims of either identity theft or credit fraud within the next 12 months.

Yet, when asked later about having become identity theft victims, few of the survey respondents attributed their fraud to the data breach they’d been involved in.

The objective behind sending the data breach notification letters is to let consumers know their personal or financial information has been compromised. The notices should spur credit card and bankcard holders to place fraud alerts or credit freezes on their credit reports, or to enroll in identity theft protection services or credit monitoring services.

Unfortunately, it seems few recipients of the data breach notifications are taking heed. (more…)

The FTC has one again extended the deadline for the Red Flag Rules. This is the fourth time it has been extended, the original deadline date being November 1, 2008. Companies outside of the financial sector have revived three other extensions the last one being November 1, 2009, which was yesterday. Seems the FTC has decided businesses need more time to comply and have extended the deadline again to June 1, 2010.

For those of you who don’t know what the Red Flag Rules are they where setup to force banks and creditors to implement written and identity theft prevention programs. The programs should be designed to identify, detect, and respond to any identity theft problems. If a program is implemented properly the businesses should be better at identifying identity theft threats to their customers and should be better equipped to resolve and preventing the identity theft.

So why is the FTC giving businesses so much time to comply with the new rules. Well I don’t know, maybe they are not prepared to punish or reprimand businesses that have not complied yet. Maybe they feel with each new deadline more and more businesses are complying and that’s what they wanted in the first place.

It is very important that these businesses take some responsibility in preventing identity theft. I feel that businesses have been some what apathetic to the situation relying on insurance companies and FDIC to cover loses. Even if the business isn’t worried about the loses they might incur they should care enough about their customers to protect them from any and all losses.