Credit Card Identity Theft
Identity burglary and fraud
Have you ever faced a problem of a sudden reduction in your credit balance from account unknowingly? How you ever thought of about when it happened and who did it? The cases of illegal access to credit cards and bank account are increasing time after time. People are aware of protecting self passwords and account details but sometimes full proof protection too cannot stop hackers to break the account and use others money. Credit card identity theft is increasing and people find out all possible ways to avoid it.
Criminals or thieves hack the personal accounts and access through personal data to commit credit card identity theft. Experts don’t require any special efforts to enter in to the credit card details. Unfortunately people have to face the problems occurred from identity theft and account hacking.
Criminal use of credit cards
Criminal use of credit card accounts and using others cash has gone out of limits in the world of theft. Credit companies do really care about clients and personal data protection. Care is taken by all credit companies to provide all account information, credit card details, and terms of use. Apart from this, companies explain you all related technicalities and means of protection. If in case you are a victim of identity theft or illegal access by someone, you need to contact the credit company to discuss all about loss of balance and steps to take necessary actions. Frauds can be regarding new accounts or old accounts taken over. Credit card holder’s liability is limited by the federal law to $50 if it’s a case of credit card identity fraud. This is applicable up to card holder disputes all charges in sixty days.
Avoiding credit card identity theft
The basic thing to do to avoid credit card identity theft is to protect the password and id from others. Keep checking the account balance from time to time to assure weather it is same as before. Avoid being a victim of identity theft by firstly providing full proof information to Credit Card Company. Sometimes some person may ring you and suggest you to apply for a new plan associated with prize or some scheme. If you find the person unknown just try to ignore the offer. At the time of travel make sure to have your personal mail held at local office. If for any business transaction you need to transfer credit card details to other person make sure it is done in some private place and not on public booth.
While checking all details it is essential to receive monthly financial statements of credit card account, list of all transactions taken place through credit card for the month, and amount for the same. If such details are not at your desk at the end of the month from the credit company it’s your responsibility to call the company and ask about it. Checking for unauthorized access to data needs to be done to avoid any kind of reduction in balance. You yourself can avoid any kind of credit card identity theft.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Criminal Identity Theft
Criminal identity theft
Those individual show commit identity theft are always not out to steal your money and ruin your credit as there can be even criminal identity theft. This identity theft mainly occurs when the criminal uses your name on their arrest or when the criminal is being investigated. The personal identity they provide offer the law enforcement officer might include your date of birth, driver’s license and even social security number. The criminals might also provide a fake license which contains their picture but with someone else’s data.
How can criminals assume your identity?
With most of the cases the criminal would fraudulently access the driver’s license or identification card with the victim’s name and address and present these documents to the law enforcement officer. They might also commit criminal id theft by utilizing the address and name of a relative or friend without displaying a photo identification. Most often this information is not enough to get the criminal off their deeds to with a simple quote or an instant release from their arrest. After they have signed the quote and promise to appear with accounts the thief would not show up again. Therefore this would lead the judge to issue bench warrant in the name of some innocent victim.
The consequences of criminal id theft
Unfortunately, the victim of criminal id theft might also not know that there has been a warrant issued under their name until long. The victim might generally find out after they are detained on a regular traffic stop and arrested for the outstanding warrant. However by this time the criminal id theft victim might find themselves in a huge amount of financial and legal trouble. There are also come cases where the criminal id theft would appear in the court for the violation or for entering guilty plea without the knowledge of its victim. In case the criminal finds they are blocked for a serious crime like drunk driving they would simply provide someone else’s persona data. The name of the victim would be entered in the countrywide criminal database along with a huge mark on their record.
There are also some cases in criminal identity theft where the victim does not know about the impersonation until they are denied of employment or expelled from a job. This generally happens when the employer conducts criminal background search and expels the victim after finding they have a recent criminal record. They might also be charged for not letting the organization know about their criminal activity by terminating them from their job.
Fighting criminal id theft
Similar to other types of identity theft the victims of criminal theft are also left with burden of cleaning their name from the criminal justice system. You should act quickly if you nee to minimize the damages and to get back your life. However the process can be quite difficult as the officials working with criminal justice system are the only people having the right to correct the data on your report. Although this type of id theft has become much common there is still no standard procedure to clear the wrongfully accumulated records.
Those individual show commit identity theft are always not out to steal your money and ruin your credit as there can be even criminal identity theft. This identity theft mainly occurs when the criminal uses your name on their arrest or when the criminal is being investigated. The personal identity they provide offer the law enforcement officer might include your date of birth, driver’s license and even social security number. The criminals might also provide a fake license which contains their picture but with someone else’s data.
How can criminals assume your identity?
With most of the cases the criminal would fraudulently access the driver’s license or identification card with the victim’s name and address and present these documents to the law enforcement officer. They might also commit criminal id theft by utilizing the address and name of a relative or friend without displaying a photo identification. Most often this information is not enough to get the criminal off their deeds to with a simple quote or an instant release from their arrest. After they have signed the quote and promise to appear with accounts the thief would not show up again. Therefore this would lead the judge to issue bench warrant in the name of some innocent victim.
The consequences of criminal id theft
Unfortunately, the victim of criminal id theft might also not know that there has been a warrant issued under their name until long. The victim might generally find out after they are detained on a regular traffic stop and arrested for the outstanding warrant. However by this time the criminal id theft victim might find themselves in a huge amount of financial and legal trouble. There are also come cases where the criminal id theft would appear in the court for the violation or for entering guilty plea without the knowledge of its victim. In case the criminal finds they are blocked for a serious crime like drunk driving they would simply provide someone else’s persona data. The name of the victim would be entered in the countrywide criminal database along with a huge mark on their record.
There are also some cases in criminal identity theft where the victim does not know about the impersonation until they are denied of employment or expelled from a job. This generally happens when the employer conducts criminal background search and expels the victim after finding they have a recent criminal record. They might also be charged for not letting the organization know about their criminal activity by terminating them from their job.
Fighting criminal id theft
Similar to other types of identity theft the victims of criminal theft are also left with burden of cleaning their name from the criminal justice system. You should act quickly if you nee to minimize the damages and to get back your life. However the process can be quite difficult as the officials working with criminal justice system are the only people having the right to correct the data on your report. Although this type of id theft has become much common there is still no standard procedure to clear the wrongfully accumulated records.
Email Identity Theft
Email identity theft
The internet and email services have actually created easy opportunities to conduct business and stay in touch with your loved ones. However these online services have also created several ways for criminals to hack your email address and passwords so that they can ultimately steal your identity. At one time people who stole identity of others had a hard time working on a process to get information of the person, but today things have become quite easy to deceive a target through email services. You might have every wondered how and why people steal your identity through email address. It is quite simply for them and when your identity is stolen the thief would pretend to be you and gain access to all your financial and personal records. They might even ruin your credit and even commit crimes in your name.
About email address theft
The main advantage in stealing your email address if for spamming and phishing. This email identity theft can easily convince others that any message or communication is conducted from a legitimate business or person. Therefore there have been huge cases reported for business email address theft. Therefore when you think that your conversation is held with a legitimate organization then you would probably share all your personal and financial information with them and this is called as phishing.
Why email address is stolen
The other common reason for email id theft is for spamming. Although most of the spam messages are blocked by internet service provider, the person committing email identity theft might send email to a firm or individual under the name of legitimate person and there are fewer possibilities for it to be blocked. Email identity theft is also considered as identity fraud through which the hacker would use email id of the victim to get their all their information. However it is obvious that everyone would want to protect their email address but there are still crimes taking place. In this case you need to take extra precautions in protecting your email address.
How to prevent email id theft
1. Be careful when using spam emails that ask for your social security number, bank account information, passwords and other personal info. It is important you check the mail’s reliability before disclosing this information.
2. Internet phishing scams are a common issue in today’s cyber world. You might find some mails asking you to fill up several details such as mail id, password, credit card number on their form. It might have a high leeway of being scams.
3. You might get some scam mails from the perpetrator asking you to update your credit card information in the form they provide. These mails must be stopped immediately as they can cause identity theft.
4. You might even receive mails claiming to be from banks and might ask you for your bank account passwords. You should know that there are very rare cases of banks asking you for such information through mails.
5. The mails which are written with several misspellings and grammatical errors would likely come under scams and might even be from identity thieves.
The internet and email services have actually created easy opportunities to conduct business and stay in touch with your loved ones. However these online services have also created several ways for criminals to hack your email address and passwords so that they can ultimately steal your identity. At one time people who stole identity of others had a hard time working on a process to get information of the person, but today things have become quite easy to deceive a target through email services. You might have every wondered how and why people steal your identity through email address. It is quite simply for them and when your identity is stolen the thief would pretend to be you and gain access to all your financial and personal records. They might even ruin your credit and even commit crimes in your name.
About email address theft
The main advantage in stealing your email address if for spamming and phishing. This email identity theft can easily convince others that any message or communication is conducted from a legitimate business or person. Therefore there have been huge cases reported for business email address theft. Therefore when you think that your conversation is held with a legitimate organization then you would probably share all your personal and financial information with them and this is called as phishing.
Why email address is stolen
The other common reason for email id theft is for spamming. Although most of the spam messages are blocked by internet service provider, the person committing email identity theft might send email to a firm or individual under the name of legitimate person and there are fewer possibilities for it to be blocked. Email identity theft is also considered as identity fraud through which the hacker would use email id of the victim to get their all their information. However it is obvious that everyone would want to protect their email address but there are still crimes taking place. In this case you need to take extra precautions in protecting your email address.
How to prevent email id theft
1. Be careful when using spam emails that ask for your social security number, bank account information, passwords and other personal info. It is important you check the mail’s reliability before disclosing this information.
2. Internet phishing scams are a common issue in today’s cyber world. You might find some mails asking you to fill up several details such as mail id, password, credit card number on their form. It might have a high leeway of being scams.
3. You might get some scam mails from the perpetrator asking you to update your credit card information in the form they provide. These mails must be stopped immediately as they can cause identity theft.
4. You might even receive mails claiming to be from banks and might ask you for your bank account passwords. You should know that there are very rare cases of banks asking you for such information through mails.
5. The mails which are written with several misspellings and grammatical errors would likely come under scams and might even be from identity thieves.
FTC Identity Theft
FTC identity theft
FTC refers to the Federal Trade Commission which is a government organisation that protects the consumer rights. Such government organizations for consumer protection are all over the world and in each country, only names are different. Some call them as FTC; others refer to them as Consumer Courts. These institutions are part of government but are just section of government which works for consumer rights. Identity thefts are been reported to FTC also. Many people do such things of reporting their identity theft cases to FTC instead of reporting it to police department. It has been observed that after people experience such thefts, most of the people do not report it to department. They do not report to FTC either. They are just casual about their things. They just inform the service providers of credit cards or bank ATMs if they are stolen. These service providers just blocks the service provided by those credit cards. They do not report this crime to anybody. This does not help the police to find such criminals. This proves beneficial for the criminals and they get another chance to do such crimes. But if the crimes are reported, police start to trace those criminals and hence they have themselves on the record of the department. Hence if another similar crime occurs, then it is easy to trace them.
How does FTC handle identity theft?
You can file a compliant of identity theft with the FTC. But before you file any compliant, you need to know some important things. FTC gathers complaints about various companies doing frauds, malpractices in the business, identity thefts and also if there is any violence of any rights by the media and more. If you are related to any crime in any of the above mentioned field, then you can file a compliant with FTC. Once compliant is filed, FTC carries out further procedures of investigations and prosecutions. All these action that are taken by department are then taken by FTC. It has a secured database called as Consumer Sentinel which is used by worldwide authorities of criminal law enforcements and thousands of civil law enforcement authorities also. One important thing to remember is that FTC does not resolve individual consumer complaints. They resolve complaints of previously mentioned sectors. If you have an individual compliant about some identity theft due to some criminal which is an individual, then you have to note a compliant with the department.
Other important suggestions
The level of personal information that you provide is up to you. You need not provide all your details to FTC, but the mandatory by them has to be provided. Policies of how to safeguard personal information you are also provided by the FTC. Mandatory information has to be provided because in case of investigation, if you don’t provide your name and address correctly, it becomes impossible to carry out further procedures. Paperwork to be carried out is also reduced by FTC. It is less compared to what you have to carry out when you go for launching a compliant in department. It has become more user friendly and you save considerable amount of time.
FTC refers to the Federal Trade Commission which is a government organisation that protects the consumer rights. Such government organizations for consumer protection are all over the world and in each country, only names are different. Some call them as FTC; others refer to them as Consumer Courts. These institutions are part of government but are just section of government which works for consumer rights. Identity thefts are been reported to FTC also. Many people do such things of reporting their identity theft cases to FTC instead of reporting it to police department. It has been observed that after people experience such thefts, most of the people do not report it to department. They do not report to FTC either. They are just casual about their things. They just inform the service providers of credit cards or bank ATMs if they are stolen. These service providers just blocks the service provided by those credit cards. They do not report this crime to anybody. This does not help the police to find such criminals. This proves beneficial for the criminals and they get another chance to do such crimes. But if the crimes are reported, police start to trace those criminals and hence they have themselves on the record of the department. Hence if another similar crime occurs, then it is easy to trace them.
How does FTC handle identity theft?
You can file a compliant of identity theft with the FTC. But before you file any compliant, you need to know some important things. FTC gathers complaints about various companies doing frauds, malpractices in the business, identity thefts and also if there is any violence of any rights by the media and more. If you are related to any crime in any of the above mentioned field, then you can file a compliant with FTC. Once compliant is filed, FTC carries out further procedures of investigations and prosecutions. All these action that are taken by department are then taken by FTC. It has a secured database called as Consumer Sentinel which is used by worldwide authorities of criminal law enforcements and thousands of civil law enforcement authorities also. One important thing to remember is that FTC does not resolve individual consumer complaints. They resolve complaints of previously mentioned sectors. If you have an individual compliant about some identity theft due to some criminal which is an individual, then you have to note a compliant with the department.
Other important suggestions
The level of personal information that you provide is up to you. You need not provide all your details to FTC, but the mandatory by them has to be provided. Policies of how to safeguard personal information you are also provided by the FTC. Mandatory information has to be provided because in case of investigation, if you don’t provide your name and address correctly, it becomes impossible to carry out further procedures. Paperwork to be carried out is also reduced by FTC. It is less compared to what you have to carry out when you go for launching a compliant in department. It has become more user friendly and you save considerable amount of time.
Financial Identity Theft
Financial identity theft
Financial identity theft is recorded to be one of the fastest growing crimes around the world. This crime might have serious long term cost in your financial health. Additionally it might also take you years to clean up all the negative or false information from your credit report although if it is there without your fault. However the good thing is that protecting yourself from financial identity theft can actually eliminate this need.
This financial identity theft mainly takes place when a criminal uses your personal information such as your date of birth, address, name and social security number for committing fraud activities. Some thieves might get hold of your sensitive information through which they can wash off all your bank accounts within a few hours and even get qualified for thousands of dollars in your credit. They might also get a job through your social security number and name.
How to spot identity theft
There are different ways you can easily spot identity theft. Luckily the sooner you find out the better it would be to rectify the issue. The most common sign would be a transaction on any of your accounts which you do not recognize. It might also be a loan that you never applied or a credit card charge for no such charges. The other common sign is the mistakes found on your credit report. Therefore it is important that you check your reports every year by requesting a free copy. In case you are receiving mails at your residence which is not addressed for you or for your previous tenants then it could be another sign of financial identity theft. The criminals often use your address to apply for stuffs such as credit cards and loans.
How financial identity theft takes place
There can be different ways for criminals to rob your identity. One of the easiest method is stealing your wallet or they might just teal your mail directly from the mailbox. In case there is a letter from the bank then it might contain a lot of financial and persona information which you might not want to risk. Additionally the criminals might also dig through your garbage just to find bits of unshredded documents or financial papers. However if you opt for online banking methods then viruses might rob your information. This all ultimately leads to financial identity theft.
How to react
In case you spot any of these financial identity theft signs then the first thing to do would be contacting your lenders, banks, the credit card providers and everyone who has financial accounts with you. They would instantly freeze your accounts in an attempt to stop thieves from stealing your money. The bank would also help by issuing a new bank account number with check book and credit cards. In case of financial identity theft you must also contact any one of the credit reporting bureaus so that they can place a fraud alert on your credit. You should know that financial identity theft can have really serious consequences and so you should act immediately when you suspect your identity has been compromised.
Financial identity theft is recorded to be one of the fastest growing crimes around the world. This crime might have serious long term cost in your financial health. Additionally it might also take you years to clean up all the negative or false information from your credit report although if it is there without your fault. However the good thing is that protecting yourself from financial identity theft can actually eliminate this need.
This financial identity theft mainly takes place when a criminal uses your personal information such as your date of birth, address, name and social security number for committing fraud activities. Some thieves might get hold of your sensitive information through which they can wash off all your bank accounts within a few hours and even get qualified for thousands of dollars in your credit. They might also get a job through your social security number and name.
How to spot identity theft
There are different ways you can easily spot identity theft. Luckily the sooner you find out the better it would be to rectify the issue. The most common sign would be a transaction on any of your accounts which you do not recognize. It might also be a loan that you never applied or a credit card charge for no such charges. The other common sign is the mistakes found on your credit report. Therefore it is important that you check your reports every year by requesting a free copy. In case you are receiving mails at your residence which is not addressed for you or for your previous tenants then it could be another sign of financial identity theft. The criminals often use your address to apply for stuffs such as credit cards and loans.
How financial identity theft takes place
There can be different ways for criminals to rob your identity. One of the easiest method is stealing your wallet or they might just teal your mail directly from the mailbox. In case there is a letter from the bank then it might contain a lot of financial and persona information which you might not want to risk. Additionally the criminals might also dig through your garbage just to find bits of unshredded documents or financial papers. However if you opt for online banking methods then viruses might rob your information. This all ultimately leads to financial identity theft.
How to react
In case you spot any of these financial identity theft signs then the first thing to do would be contacting your lenders, banks, the credit card providers and everyone who has financial accounts with you. They would instantly freeze your accounts in an attempt to stop thieves from stealing your money. The bank would also help by issuing a new bank account number with check book and credit cards. In case of financial identity theft you must also contact any one of the credit reporting bureaus so that they can place a fraud alert on your credit. You should know that financial identity theft can have really serious consequences and so you should act immediately when you suspect your identity has been compromised.
Internet Identity Theft
Internet Identity theft in USA
As per reports the internet identity theft is observed in 1 amongst 8 of the residents of United States of America. The cases of identity theft for last few years have increased tremendously. People have suffered from loss of valuable information, valuables, cash, property, and lot more just due to illegal access in to personal accounts. Internet identity theft has been a common problem not only in USA but also in other countries. With a rise of use of internet services there has been an increase in internet theft. Illegal access online is considered to be a hitch of deadly disease proportions. Simple identity theft and fraud is some what different from internet identity theft. Common identity fraud occurs when something is stolen physically in the form of personal belongings like credit cards or cash. Internet fraud can be further troublesome and frustrating situation as loss occurred is larger than expected. Victims of internet identity fraud are fed up of the situation and lot of times discovers the loss of valuables too late.
How does the theft work?
People face problems after they discover some kind of theft actions taken against their property, cash, or bank accounts online. It is essential to learn all about how online theft may take place so as to take precautions for avoiding it in near future. Personal computer collects entire personal data and preserves it at some place knowingly or unknowingly. Personal online access and habits can be interconnected to others by the means of cache, browsers, and temporary internet files. Online files store data like some login id and passwords, address, names, numbers, bank account numbers, credit card access codes, and other valuable information. Sometimes for business purpose this data is passed by from owner of account to other users and unknowingly data is hacked. Now it is just a matter of playing with keys for hackers to access your personal valuable information. The process of hacking and using cash from credit cards or illegal spread of data thus continues. Thief can grab such data while being transferred through unsecured transmission or install any malicious software. For any kind of internet identity theft protection in the form of internet security is the best solution
Protection from theft
Whether for victims of identity theft or people trying to avoid being a victim, proper care taken initially will be a helping hand. As far as protection of data on computers is concerned individuals need to keep all information in secured folders with access locks. For internet protection all personal sites should be accessed through protected passwords and id’s, kept away from others. You need to seal up all security gaps, block all unwanted internet files to be accessed, block the spy ware computer fraud, and block all pop ups. Internet identity theft can be kept away by avoiding any kind of malicious downloads, clearing internet history from time to time, and deleting internet cache, recycle bin, hidden index.dat files, temp files, and tracking cookies. Protection of personal identity and access is in your own hands. For any professional advice you can consult internet security service providers.
As per reports the internet identity theft is observed in 1 amongst 8 of the residents of United States of America. The cases of identity theft for last few years have increased tremendously. People have suffered from loss of valuable information, valuables, cash, property, and lot more just due to illegal access in to personal accounts. Internet identity theft has been a common problem not only in USA but also in other countries. With a rise of use of internet services there has been an increase in internet theft. Illegal access online is considered to be a hitch of deadly disease proportions. Simple identity theft and fraud is some what different from internet identity theft. Common identity fraud occurs when something is stolen physically in the form of personal belongings like credit cards or cash. Internet fraud can be further troublesome and frustrating situation as loss occurred is larger than expected. Victims of internet identity fraud are fed up of the situation and lot of times discovers the loss of valuables too late.
How does the theft work?
People face problems after they discover some kind of theft actions taken against their property, cash, or bank accounts online. It is essential to learn all about how online theft may take place so as to take precautions for avoiding it in near future. Personal computer collects entire personal data and preserves it at some place knowingly or unknowingly. Personal online access and habits can be interconnected to others by the means of cache, browsers, and temporary internet files. Online files store data like some login id and passwords, address, names, numbers, bank account numbers, credit card access codes, and other valuable information. Sometimes for business purpose this data is passed by from owner of account to other users and unknowingly data is hacked. Now it is just a matter of playing with keys for hackers to access your personal valuable information. The process of hacking and using cash from credit cards or illegal spread of data thus continues. Thief can grab such data while being transferred through unsecured transmission or install any malicious software. For any kind of internet identity theft protection in the form of internet security is the best solution
Protection from theft
Whether for victims of identity theft or people trying to avoid being a victim, proper care taken initially will be a helping hand. As far as protection of data on computers is concerned individuals need to keep all information in secured folders with access locks. For internet protection all personal sites should be accessed through protected passwords and id’s, kept away from others. You need to seal up all security gaps, block all unwanted internet files to be accessed, block the spy ware computer fraud, and block all pop ups. Internet identity theft can be kept away by avoiding any kind of malicious downloads, clearing internet history from time to time, and deleting internet cache, recycle bin, hidden index.dat files, temp files, and tracking cookies. Protection of personal identity and access is in your own hands. For any professional advice you can consult internet security service providers.
Medical identity theft
Medical identity theft
Medical identity theft is a type of fraud activity which is a growing crime in the world and specially United States. The internet technology has contributed largely to the fallout but the privacy laws make these problems quit hard to resolve. After the thieves are equipped with the information of an unknown patients they would have the power to cause considerable damages. However after they have claimed the identity the thieves would also be able to receive medical benefits in the name of the victim like medical visits,, discount prescription drugs and treatment. Additionally the thief might also file fraudulent claims that might leave the victim with a number of unpaid bills, a wrecked credit score, annoying calls from different collection agencies and worst they would have inaccurate medical records.
Impact of medical identity theft
The medical identity theft victims would not even know about this crime until they find a huge bill on their name. However after they realize what the problem is the law that is put in place to help the consumer actually makes it difficult to prove medical identity theft. According to the federal privacy laws like the accountability act and health insurance portability, the health care providers should receive penalty on releasing person information of an individual without following the strict protocol. In case of medical identity theft it is generally the victim who is denied access to their own personal information.
As there are the major credit bureaus for your credit reports, there is no main repository selected for maintaining medical records. There are also no services with excellent database which can collect and monitor information about medical history and health insurance plan of an individual. Therefore it leaves the patient with time consuming job of contacting all the providers the have visited to avail their information. Additionally there is also not specific program designed for medical identity theft victims to fix potentially hazardous mistakes and dispute false claims within the records. This is much more than a financial nightmare as it can also have serious health risks. In case the healthcare service provider has maintained fraudulent records in your name then you next visit might often result in inaccurate drug prescription or diagnosis.
Medical identity theft protection
Although recovering from medical identity theft is a huge challenge, your best defence would be prevention. Therefore you can just follow some simple ways to stay away from medical id theft
Prepare – As you are now aware of medical id theft consequences and the risks involved it would be wise to start gathering your records before someone else attempts. Make sure you contact every medical service provider you have visited and request for a copy of your medical records.
Communicate – It is important that you always stay on top regarding your medical insurance claims. You can contact a representative to request documentation for every claim you have filed and was paid on your behalf.
Read carefully – Finally it is very important that you carefully read every invoice offered by the service provider. It might hold true details of your insurance benefits and so make sure you are familiar with all the benefits in their services. In case you don’t understand make sure it is cleared our before you sign.
Medical identity theft is a type of fraud activity which is a growing crime in the world and specially United States. The internet technology has contributed largely to the fallout but the privacy laws make these problems quit hard to resolve. After the thieves are equipped with the information of an unknown patients they would have the power to cause considerable damages. However after they have claimed the identity the thieves would also be able to receive medical benefits in the name of the victim like medical visits,, discount prescription drugs and treatment. Additionally the thief might also file fraudulent claims that might leave the victim with a number of unpaid bills, a wrecked credit score, annoying calls from different collection agencies and worst they would have inaccurate medical records.
Impact of medical identity theft
The medical identity theft victims would not even know about this crime until they find a huge bill on their name. However after they realize what the problem is the law that is put in place to help the consumer actually makes it difficult to prove medical identity theft. According to the federal privacy laws like the accountability act and health insurance portability, the health care providers should receive penalty on releasing person information of an individual without following the strict protocol. In case of medical identity theft it is generally the victim who is denied access to their own personal information.
As there are the major credit bureaus for your credit reports, there is no main repository selected for maintaining medical records. There are also no services with excellent database which can collect and monitor information about medical history and health insurance plan of an individual. Therefore it leaves the patient with time consuming job of contacting all the providers the have visited to avail their information. Additionally there is also not specific program designed for medical identity theft victims to fix potentially hazardous mistakes and dispute false claims within the records. This is much more than a financial nightmare as it can also have serious health risks. In case the healthcare service provider has maintained fraudulent records in your name then you next visit might often result in inaccurate drug prescription or diagnosis.
Medical identity theft protection
Although recovering from medical identity theft is a huge challenge, your best defence would be prevention. Therefore you can just follow some simple ways to stay away from medical id theft
Prepare – As you are now aware of medical id theft consequences and the risks involved it would be wise to start gathering your records before someone else attempts. Make sure you contact every medical service provider you have visited and request for a copy of your medical records.
Communicate – It is important that you always stay on top regarding your medical insurance claims. You can contact a representative to request documentation for every claim you have filed and was paid on your behalf.
Read carefully – Finally it is very important that you carefully read every invoice offered by the service provider. It might hold true details of your insurance benefits and so make sure you are familiar with all the benefits in their services. In case you don’t understand make sure it is cleared our before you sign.
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