The Identity Advocate

The Identity Advocate is committed to providing unparalleled education, consulting, resources, and investigations to help prevent identity theft, medical ID theft, and healthcare fraud.

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Do You Have An Identity Theft Protection Service This Holiday Season?

By Linda Vincent, The Identity Advocate

The holidays are a busy time. While you’re running from store to store finding the perfect gifts and shopping online to get the best deals, each transaction puts you at higher risk for identity theft.

The holidays are exciting for gift recipients just as much as they are for identity thieves. From everything like leveraging data breaches to using portable scanners to steal your money, identity thieves take advantage of every opportunity. You can prevent identity theft during the holidays (and year-round) to avoid false credit card charges and negative credit reports with an identity theft protection service.

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Why You Need An ID Theft Recovery Plan—Not Just ID Protection

By Linda Vincent, The Identity Advocate

Identity theft cases are growing at a staggering rate in the United States. While a lot more consumers are becoming aware of the risks and enlisting help via identity protection, most ignore the importance of having an ID theft recovery plan as well. The cost to recover your identity averages over $3,000 and could take as many as 600 hours. The entire process is tedious, time-consuming, frustrating, and could easily bankrupt you if you already have a dire financial situation.

But recovering from identity theft doesn’t have to be so devastating. In conjunction with identity protection, identity theft recovery services help keep your life in order when you become a victim of identity theft.

[continue reading on THE IDENTITY ADVOCATE blog]

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Identity Theft and Medical Identity Theft: Why and How You’re at Risk

By Linda Vincent, The Identity Advocate

width="300" />Identity theft, including medical identity theft, is a growing threat in the United States. Unfortunately, too many consumers, healthcare providers, and businesses of all types and sizes ignore this threat.

The latest statistics still show that one out of four consumers have their identity stolen, equating to about 11.6 million identity theft victims a year. It’s also estimated that some sort of data breach will affect one out of ten consumers, and one out of eight patients will become a victim of medical identity theft.

The cost of identity theft is devastating. Hackers and thieves buy Social Security numbers for just $1.00, but you’ll spend thousands of dollars and countless hours recovering your identity. On the other hand, a person’s medical identity averages just $50, but insurance companies and the patients affected could spend millions in recovery costs.

[continue reading on THE IDENTITY THEFT blog]

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The Right and Wrong Ways to Prevent Identity Theft

By Linda Vincent, The Identity Advocate

Numerous data breaches have occurred over the past few years. From the Target data breach to electronic health records being tapped into, consumers are at risk for identity theft like never before. Unfortunately, most are completely unaware of it. Many even assume that credit monitoring is enough to protect themselves from identity theft.

In fact, Target and other companies tried to calm the waters by offering free credit monitoring to identity theft victims after the attacks. But this is just a Band-Aid on the problem—and mostly a public relations ploy. Credit monitoring doesn’t provide even close to adequate protection. If you’re only relying on credit monitoring as a ways to prevent identity theft, you’ve given yourself a false sense of security. It’s scary, but true.

[continue reading on the THE IDENTITY ADVOCATE blog]

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Is Your Kid Safe? How to Prevent Child Identity Theft

By Linda Vincent, The Identity Advocate

A child’s Social Security number and identity can be stolen just as easily as an adult’s. Thieves use their SSNs to open up bank accounts, apply for government benefits, and even rent a place to live. As a parent, it’s important that you are proactive in not only protecting your own identity, but the identity of your children, too.

Recent research has shown that over 10.2 percent of children in the United States have had their identity stolen. Therefore, it is imperative that parents take precautions to protect their kids’ identities. Child identity theft results in:

A poor credit score

Higher interest rates and more difficulty being approved for loans/credit in the future

Medical identity theft when medical records show they are using medications that identity thieves are actually taking

Difficulty fixing errors, especially when they are years (or even decades) old

[continue reading on THE IDENTITY ADVOCATE blog]

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Fight Back! Stop Healthcare Fraud and Abuse From Happening to You!

By Linda Vincent, The Identity Advocate

You trust in your physician to take care of you. You trust them to prescribe medications, diagnose symptoms when you’re sick, and help you maintain a healthy lifestyle. But is your physician doing something else—something nefarious—that you don’t know about? He or she could be committing healthcare fraud—at your expense!

Healthcare fraud and abuse is on the rise in the United States. From physicians billing for services you don’t receive to performing unnecessary procedures, healthcare fraud and abuse takes a serious toll on your health and insurance. While most physicians do it to pad their revenue, these false claims, medical orders, and prescriptions put your life at risk.

[continue reading this article on THE IDENTITY ADVOCATE blog]

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How to Protect Your Healthcare Facility From Medical Identity Theft

By Linda Vincent, The Identity Advocate

Albany Medical Center was working hard to take care of its patients and bring a higher level of healthcare to the community. According to most patients, the facility was doing a good job of it.

Unfortunately, the medical center’s reputation was recently damaged when one of its own nurses was caught stealing patient identities. With the help of her boyfriend, a nurse stole over 50 patient identities and applied for hundreds of credit cards in their names. The two identity thieves were eventually caught red-handed with a collection of patients’ names, home addresses, Social Security numbers, credit cards, and gift cards.

Sadly, this is just one of numerous cases in which nurses swiped patient identities for personal financial gain. As a medical facility or administrator, it’s your duty to protect your patients from identity theft. After all, more importantly than harming your reputation as a trusted healthcare provider, medical identity theft puts your patients’ lives at risk. Here’s how to safeguard your facility . . .

[continue reading on THE IDENTITY ADVOCATE blog]

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How to Prevent Identity Theft During Your Job Search

By Linda Vincent, The Identity Advocate

Online job searching has opened up a world of opportunities for job seekers. You can do everything from the comfort of home—from performing research to distributing resumes to submitting applications. Most companies prefer the online hiring process, too. It’s simply a more efficient way for both employers and employees to connect.

But job-hunting online also has its drawbacks, including a much higher risk for resume identity theft. Identity thieves know that many job seekers are desperate, and are willing to provide whatever information is requested to secure an interview. The result can be financial ruin for a job seeker who has done nothing wrong other than try to adhere to application requirements.

Thieves use a variety of tactics to commit resume identity theft:

[continue reading on The Identity Advocate blog]

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Is Your Medical Device Putting You At Risk For Identity Theft?

By Linda Vincent, The Identity Advocate

Many of us use medical devices to monitor a variety of health issues—everything from sleep apnea to heart conditions—to help keep us safe and sound. What many of us don’t realize is that these devices make us more vulnerable to medical identity theft and healthcare fraud.

Unfortunately, unlike regular forms of identity theft, a medical data breach can have life-threatening consequences. Ironically, the same device that can save a life can also be used by an identity thief to put someone’s life at risk.

So while medical device technology continues to drive innovations in the healthcare industry, we need to be vigilant to prevent identity theft at every turn. Identity thieves are resourceful and just as innovative with their techniques—often striking before the industry has had time to catch up with new security measures.

Identity Thieves Have Their Eye on Healthcare

Personal information is the lifeblood of an identity thief, and nothing could be more personal than your medical information. After all, your medical records can contain even more sensitive information than your financial records, making them prime targets for identity thieves. In fact, while someone’s credit card records sell for about $2.00 on the black market, medical records sell for an average of $20.00. With these financial incentives, it’s no surprise that medical identity theft is on the rise, claiming 1.84 million victims in the U.S. in 2013.

The Risks of Medical Identity Theft

Medical identity theft occurs when thieves use your personal information and your health insurance to receive medical services. They may have prescriptions filled under your name or attempt to fraudulently bill your health insurance provider to receive a refund. And since they are impersonating you when they receive every medical procedure and prescription, this information is recorded on your own medical history. You’re on the hook both financially and medically, and the results can be disastrous.

Consider, for example, that you have an allergic reaction to a medication. Your allergy has been well-documented in your records so physicians know to avoid it. However, if you suddenly find yourself in a medical emergency and doctors are looking at someone else’s records, they may very well give you medication that could make a bad situation worse.

How Your Medical Devices Put You in Danger

Medical monitoring devices such as insulin pumps, implanted defibrillators, CPAP machines (used for sleep apnea), medical alert devices, and even baby monitors could put you at higher risk for medical identity theft. This is because these devices connect to hospital networks, home health networks, smartphones, wireless connections, and other sources. As they attempt to transmit over these connections, a skilled hacker can intercept the data and access a medical device—and any history or personal information associated with it.

What You Can Do to Protect Yourself

If you have a medical device, speak with the manufacturer and/or physician that issued it. Find out what measures they are taking to protect your medical information, and how they safeguard the networks that are connected to your device. What are their data encryption standards? What about password protection protocols? How do they respond to a data breach? If they can’t answer these questions, you should consider switching companies and/or doctors.

With threats only expected to grow as we see more advances in healthcare technology, it’s critical that you take a proactive approach to prevent your medical identity from being stolen. Consider signing up for an identity theft protection plan with a company like ID Theft Solutions, the only one managed by law enforcement that restores your identity back to pre-theft status.

As always, you can also connect with us here at The Identity Advocate to learn more about medical identity theft, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to have identity theft prevention tips delivered to your inbox every month.

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Think Credit Monitoring Prevents Identity Theft? Think Again.

In the wake of the recent Target data breach, in which identity thieves gained access to the personal information of at least 70 million customers, the company announced it would offer free credit monitoring for a year. While this is a good first step for the retail giant, it gives affected customers false hope. 

At face value, credit monitoring seems like an attractive service. After all, it helps detect suspicious activity on your credit report and gives you a heads-up about potential problems. But many credit monitoring companies market their service as being an identity theft protection plan. This simply isn’t the case.

The reality is that credit monitoring is just what it says it is: monitoring. It doesn’t prevent identity theft or your credit from being hijacked. Considering the fact that one in four data breach notification recipients become a victim of identity theft, simply monitoring these attacks isn’t enough. You need to proactively take steps to protect both your credit and your identity.

Credit Monitoring Gives a False Sense of Security

Credit monitoring services alert you when any type of new account appears on your credit report. Unfortunately, by this time the identity theft has often already happened. Credit monitoring didn’t prevent the theft; it simply notified you of the fraudulent activity so you could start the long process of trying to repair your credit.

Look at credit monitoring as being only a small part of a comprehensive identity theft protection plan. Keep in mind that, although you’re alerted when changes occur on your credit report, some events may go unnoticed or even be reported incorrectly. Many consumers don’t discover that their identity has been stolen until debt collectors show up at the door.

The same goes for three-in-one services that offer to monitor all three credit reporting bureaus. These methods aren’t secure because an identity thief can still open accounts in your name without actually having your credit report pulled. There is also an extensive delay between when an account is opened and when it shows up on your credit report. By the time you’re notified, the identity thief could have dozens of accounts already opened and racking up debt.

Tips for Preventing Identity Theft

You need an identity theft protection plan to keep thieves from using your information in the first place. A few tips:

Be proactive and sign-up for identity theft protection with ID Theft Solutions, the only company managed by law enforcement that restores your identity back to pre-theft status.

Be cautious of the websites you visit and the Internet connections you use to access them. Public networks aren’t secure and identity thieves can easily gain access to your computer, email accounts, and bank accounts.

Never share personal information via email, over the phone, or with anyone you don’t know well. Identity thieves like to impersonate customer service representatives and ask to verify your birthday, Social Security number, or other personal data. If you’re not expecting contact, hang up and call the company back at a phone number you can trust.

Lock up your financial and medical information, and shred documents you no longer need.

Implement a credit freeze and check your credit card statements at least once a month for suspicious activity. You can also sign up with CreditKarma.com to check your credit score and also receive monthly monitoring for free—without your credit being affected in any way.

Add a fraud alert to your credit report if you suspect you’re at risk for fraud (such as using a debit or credit card during the Target data breach debacle).

Whatever you do, don’t just depend on credit monitoring as your identity theft protection plan. With one new victim every three seconds, identity theft is a growing problem that shows no signs of letting up. Visit The Identity Advocate to start safeguarding your identity today, and don’t forget to join our mailing list to have identity theft prevention tips delivered to your inbox each month. 

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Tax Refund Identity Theft: What You Need to Know

As another year comes to an end and we prepare our tax returns, the IRS and other government officials are preparing for an increase in tax refund identity theft. In 2011, the IRS missed over 1.1 million fraudulent tax returns and paid out over $3.6 billion in fraudulent tax refunds. Fortunately, this year they’re taking more precautions to protect taxpayer identities. Even with these precautions, it’s important for you to know how to protect yourself from becoming another victim of tax refund identity theft.

How to Know if Your Tax Return or Records Have Been Affected

Identity thieves file fraudulent tax returns using legitimate taxpayers’ information. They file a fake tax return on your behalf, collect the refund, and repeat the process with another taxpayer. They often do this early in the tax season—before you are likely to file yours—so you’re often unaware a fraudulent tax return was even submitted in your name until much later.

Taxpayers only discover they’re victims of tax refund identity theft when they attempt to file a legitimate return. The IRS will reject the tax return and typically sends a notification stating that:

More than one tax return has already been filed

There is a balance due or collection actions have been taken for unfiled tax returns

The IRS has realized you’ve received wages from employers that you don’t know

If you receive any notification from the IRS, you must respond immediately. You will be required to fill out IRS Form 14039 if you believe you’re the victim of tax refund identity theft.

Tips for Protecting Yourself From Tax Fraud

There are many things you can do to prevent identity theft when you submit this year’s tax return. While you should always protect your personal information, you should also:

Sign-up with ID Theft Solutions, the only identity theft protection company managed by law enforcement that restores your identity back to pre-theft status.

Never carry your Social Security card with you or any documents that have your Social Security number on it. If your purse/wallet is lost or stolen, a thief can easily gain access to your identity.

Never give out your Social Security number just because someone requests it—especially a supposed phone call from a government official. The IRS will never initiate contact with you via the phone, so you are probably speaking with someone who is trying to commit tax refund identity theft. If you have any questions about the status of your tax return, hang up and call the IRS directly.

Lock up or shred documents containing personal information or financial data.

Review your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus at least once a year for any fraudulent activity.

Use firewalls, anti-virus software, and regularly update your computer’s security patches to avoid giving identity thieves access to your information via the Internet.

Never give out personal information over email, the phone, or through snail-mail without verifying the sender.

Lastly, always keep your eye on the news for any new consumer reports regarding tax fraud or tax refund identity theft scams that could affect you. The IRS and news outlets often publish examples of fake emails and phone calls scammers use to impersonate IRS officials.

For more information about protecting yourself this tax season or advice to help you avoid tax refund identity theft, visit The Identity Advocate or call 310.831.4400. We can help safeguard your identity throughout the year from all forms of theft (and there are many!). You can also join our mailing list to have identity theft prevention tips delivered to your inbox each month.

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Are You At Risk For ObamaCare Identity Theft Scams?

The Affordable Care Act has been in the news a lot lately—website failures, blunders, missed deadlines, just to name a few—but now a new trend is popping up with ObamaCare. Now there is an increased risk of identity theft to add to the list of issues with the new healthcare law. Navigators, the professionals who are supposed to help guide consumers into the right affordable healthcare plan, are proving to be the biggest identity theft threat of all.

Identity Theft Threats Through ObamaCare

ObamaCare identity theft is a real concern, especially when you consider the lack of protective measures put in place. According to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, there is no federal requirement for navigators to undergo criminal background checks. Although a handful of states do require background checks, she acknowledged that it is possible for convicted felons to be navigators and gather consumers’ sensitive personal information. When you also consider that navigators only have to complete 20 to 30 hours of training—even though they’re essentially doing the same job as certified health insurance agents—there are obviously many reasons to worry.

But navigators aren’t the only risk here. The government databases used for ObamaCare store consumers’ personal, financial, and medical information—data that is shared with seven separate agencies including the IRS, Social Security Administration, and Department of Justice. These databases alone increase the likelihood of ObamaCare identity theft. With open enrollment through the health insurance exchanges running through March 2014, you will want to take the proper precautions to avoid becoming another victim of identity theft.

How to Protect Yourself from ObamaCare Identity Theft

As a consumer you have to be proactive to protect your identity. The elderly, disabled, and small business owners are at higher risk than other consumers for identity theft through ObamaCare, but you are at risk even if you don’t fall into these groups. Perform your due diligence and look out for the following:

Never give out your personal information to anyone calling and representing themselves as government officials for ObamaCare. The government will never ask for your personal information—including your bank account or credit card information—to obtain insurance. You won’t be contacted via phone, email, text, or even at your door for anything related to the new healthcare law, so anyone telling you otherwise is probably participating in an ObamaCare identity theft scam. Legitimate navigators will not make unsolicited contact with you or ask you to pay a fee for their services.

Watch out for fake ObamaCare or Medicare identification card scams. Identity thieves have been known to contact consumers claiming that they must have an ObamaCare identification card, but there are no such cards involved with the new healthcare law. Similarly, scammers are telling consumers that they need to verify their personal information to continue receiving their Medicare benefits. Again, not true.

Avoid fraudulent or “dummy” websites. Creating websites that appear to be official is another favorite tactic of scammers. You can easily avoid this type of ObamaCare identity theft by only going to www.healthcare.gov, the official government healthcare site. From there you can trust links directing you to the official websites operated by individual state governments.

Whatever you do, never provide your personal information—including Social Security number, date of birth, and financial account numbers—to setup your new healthcare plan. Remember that the government already has your personal information, so no government representatives will ever ask you to provide it. If you are uncomfortable using the healthcare.gov website to sign-up, you can also call 1.800.318.2596 for personal assistance completing the application process.

For more tips to prevent ObamaCare identity theft scams—and every other form of identity theft—visit The Identity Advocate or call us at 310.831.4400. You can also get identity theft protection today with ID Theft Solutions, the only identity theft prevention and recovery firm we endorse. Your identity is always at risk, but with the right tools in your arsenal you can combat identity theft and keep your personal information safe.