Child Identity Theft Alert....Read this article
http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/target-11-investigates-child-id-theft/nPqfj/
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Medical Identity Theft
Guard Against Medical Identity Theft
What’s worse than facing a whopping medical bill? Facing a whopping medical bill that someone else racked up using your identity.
Each year about 2 million Americans are victims of medical identity theft. It costs individual victims about $22,000, according to the Third Annual National Study on Medical Theft.
The survey, conducted by the independent research company Ponemon Institute, revealed that the estimated total cost—to all involved—is about $41 billion yearly.
“A majority of people often don’t find out their medical identity has been stolen until they hear from a collection agency,” says Ken Chaplin, a senior vice president of marketing for Experian. “They find out they owe money to a medical provider and they’ve defaulted on the bill.”
Half of the respondents said they knew the person who stole their identity: caregivers, a child or a sibling who gained access from insurance information left on a desk or in a drawer.
Some respondents said they permitted family members to use their personal identification to get medical services, including treatment, health care products and medications.
“It’s pretty shocking, but something to be aware of,” Chaplin says. “Lock up your information and treat it like any valuable.”
Why so valuable? The survey reports that 20% of respondents said their medical records were accessed or modified. Altered medical records can result in patients getting the wrong treatment.
Also, victims pay out-of-pocket expenses to resolve the identity theft.
“The medical industry is different than the financial industry,” Chaplin says. “They often limit their exposure. So find out what you’re liable for if your medical identity is stolen. Some companies cap your liability, but others don’t.”
Survey respondents claimed that on average it took about one year to resolve the theft.
Here are some useful tips to avoid being a victim of medical identity theft:
- When the explanation of benefits arrive from your insurance company, read them over. Make sure that the services provided were those you actually got. If you see unfamiliar ones, “that’s a big red flag,” Chaplin says. “Call the insurance company immediately. The quicker you take action, the quicker you can cut it off.”
- Don’t share your insurance information with anyone, Chaplin says.
- Put your insurance card in a locked drawer at home, taking it out only on the day of a doctor visit. When a wallet is stolen, victims quickly cancel their credit cards, but forget their health insurance card is there too for the taking. Do leave home without it!
- Identity-theft-protection companies, such as Experian ProtectMyID, provide alerts when your identity is stolen and assist in resolving the claims.
Richard Figley
Independent Associate614.395.2313
figleyr@legalshield.com
www.ProtectMyID.com
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Louisville man orders iPods in Bank Customers Names
Louisville man charged with identity theft for allegedly ordering iPods in the name of PNC Bank customers
7:19 PM,
Jul 3, 2012
Andrew M. Halsell / Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections
A
Louisville man who worked for a cleaning crew at PNC Bank placed online
orders in the names of bank customers, then waited outside their homes
to pick up the goods when they were delivered, police said.
Andre Halsell, 27, of the 9700 block of Streamview Trail, was charged with defrauding merchants out of nearly $4,600 worth of merchandise, according to an arrest warrant. Eight people have been victimized since Jan. 1, police said.
One victim reported that someone used his name, date of birth and social security number to open fraudulent accounts and order iPods from online stores Fingerhut.com and Gettington.com, according to an arrest citation.
Halsell admitted to taking documents with personal information from PNC Bank, then setting up lines of credit with online stores, according to police records. The records said he then sold the iPods on Craigslist.
Halsell, who knew the victims’ addresses, would go to their houses and wait for orders to arrive via UPS, said Sgt. Melissa Mottley, the commander of the LMPD fraud unit.
Most of the addresses were in the area of the Cloverleaf neighborhood east of Dixie Highway and south of the Watterson Expressway.
Halsell tried to intercept the packages, posing as one of the victims or a relative, and asking UPS delivery workers to give him the packages, Mottley said. She said if he was unable to intercept the driver, Halsell would go to the UPS centers in an attempt to pick up the packages.
Mottley said Halsell couldn’t provide proper identification to UPS workers and was never able to retrieve any of the packages. She said one of the UPS drivers noticed Halsell’s suspicious behavior and called police.
He was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with 11 counts of identity theft and one count of theft by deception. He was being held Tuesday at Louisville Metro Corrections in lieu of $1,500 bail.
Police said they do not know if Halsell was working alone, and the investigation is still ongoing. Police referred questions about how Halsell allegedly found the personal information about the victims to PNC Bank.
Fred Solomon, a PNC spokesman, said “PNC’s policies are to secure customer information in a locked receptacle.” He would not comment further, saying it could jeopardize the police investigation.
614.395.2313
figleyr@legalshield.com
www.richardfigley.com
Andre Halsell, 27, of the 9700 block of Streamview Trail, was charged with defrauding merchants out of nearly $4,600 worth of merchandise, according to an arrest warrant. Eight people have been victimized since Jan. 1, police said.
One victim reported that someone used his name, date of birth and social security number to open fraudulent accounts and order iPods from online stores Fingerhut.com and Gettington.com, according to an arrest citation.
Halsell admitted to taking documents with personal information from PNC Bank, then setting up lines of credit with online stores, according to police records. The records said he then sold the iPods on Craigslist.
Halsell, who knew the victims’ addresses, would go to their houses and wait for orders to arrive via UPS, said Sgt. Melissa Mottley, the commander of the LMPD fraud unit.
Most of the addresses were in the area of the Cloverleaf neighborhood east of Dixie Highway and south of the Watterson Expressway.
Halsell tried to intercept the packages, posing as one of the victims or a relative, and asking UPS delivery workers to give him the packages, Mottley said. She said if he was unable to intercept the driver, Halsell would go to the UPS centers in an attempt to pick up the packages.
Mottley said Halsell couldn’t provide proper identification to UPS workers and was never able to retrieve any of the packages. She said one of the UPS drivers noticed Halsell’s suspicious behavior and called police.
He was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with 11 counts of identity theft and one count of theft by deception. He was being held Tuesday at Louisville Metro Corrections in lieu of $1,500 bail.
Police said they do not know if Halsell was working alone, and the investigation is still ongoing. Police referred questions about how Halsell allegedly found the personal information about the victims to PNC Bank.
Fred Solomon, a PNC spokesman, said “PNC’s policies are to secure customer information in a locked receptacle.” He would not comment further, saying it could jeopardize the police investigation.
Reporter Alex Orlando can be reached at (502) 582-4336.
Richard Figley
Independent Associate614.395.2313
figleyr@legalshield.com
www.richardfigley.com
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Small Business
Take a look at what’s going on inside small business owners heads.
SMALL BUSINESS LEGAL ISSUES: FAILURE TO COLLECT PAYMENTS TOPS THE LIST
If the collection of payments has become a problem for your business, we can help...
find your Legal Business Plan HERE
Richard Figley
Independent Associate
614.395.2313
figleyr@legalshield.com
www.richardfigley.com
www.ID-TheftProtection.com
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