An article from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) online – “Patient ID Theft Rises” – states that medical identity theft is on the rise and expected to get worse as more people left uninsured after losing jobs in the recession use the coverage of friends, relatives, and even complete strangers to attain health care.

According to the WSJ article, medical identity theft – which occurs when someone uses another person's identity to obtain or make false claims for medical services or goods – is the fastest-growing form of identity theft, and the majority of the fraud is committed using patient information purchased from medical workers.

The WSJ also reports that the largest increases in medical identity theft are in retiree-heavy states such as Arizona, California, Florida, New York, and Texas. Two examples of medical identity theft are cited in the article:

• A clerk at a medical clinic in Florida gave the personal information of over 1,000 Medicare patients and to a relative who then made almost $3 million in false Medicare claims.
• A man in Pennsylvania discovered that his identity was used by another person at five hospitals in order to receive more than $100,000 in medical treatments in his name.

Even more troubling than the financial consequences of unpaid medical bills, medical identity theft can leave the identity theft victim’s medical files riddled with incorrect information concerning blood type, allergic reactions to medicines, and overall medical history, the WSJ reports.

The best approach for consumers in dealing with medical identity theft, according to the nonprofit World Privacy Forum, is to request copies of medical records when going to the doctor in order to have accurate records on hand to rebuild medical files if medical identity theft should strike.

Keeping a close watch on ALL personal information – from medical files to credit reports to criminal records – is a good way for patients, consumers, and jobseekers to ensure that all personal data is up-to-date, accurate, and secure from all forms of identity theft.

MyBackgroundCheck.com is a leading provider of consumer requested “personal” background checks that allow consumers to keep their private information up-to-date, accurate, and safe from identity theft and fraud. To learn how personal background checks can help prevent medical identity theft, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

While “Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving – is known as the beginning of the holiday shopping season when retailers go from “red” (posting a loss) to “black” (turning a profit), online shoppers recognize “Cyber Monday” – the Monday after Black Friday – as the beginning of the online holiday shopping season.

However, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are also the beginning of the holiday season for cyber-criminals looking to commit identity theft and fraud. According to the 2009 State of the Net Survey from Consumer Reports, online scams that included identity theft and fraud cost consumers $8 billion over the past two years.

As a result, security technology company McAfee, Inc. is warning online shoppers about “The Twelve Scams of Christmas” that could lead to identity theft and fraud during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the holiday shopping season.

To protect themselves during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday shopping season, McAfee offers consumers tips on how to avoid identity theft and fraud and steer clear of “The Twelve Scams of Christmas” that could make their holidays a little less happy. Each of the following are examples of ways cyber-criminals can trick consumers into giving away personal and financial information in order to commit identity theft, fraud, and other crimes:

1. Fake charity websites;
2. Fake delivery invoices;
3. Fake “New Friend Request” e-mails;
4. Holiday e-cards carrying computer viruses;
5. Fraudulent discount jewelry websites;
6. Unsecured, public area computers;
7. Fraudulent holiday-related websites;
8. Job-related e-mail scams;
9. Auction site fraud;
10. Password theft;
11. E-mail banking scams, and;
12. Ransomware scams.

In order to avoid identity theft, fraud, and other scams during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the holiday shopping season, McAfee advises online shoppers to protect their computers and personal information by: avoiding suspicious e-mail links; updating security software; shopping on secure networks; changing passwords, and; using common sense.

In other words, if a deal seems “too good to be true” during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday season, it could lead to identity theft and fraud instead.

MyBackgroundCheck.com is a leading provider of consumer requested “personal” background checks that allow consumers to keep their private information up-to-date, accurate, and safe from identity theft and fraud. To learn how personal background checks can help prevent identity theft and fraud during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday shopping season, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

An eye-opening video report by CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve (watch here) shows just how public our supposedly private information can be online.

The CNN report cites two examples – one somewhat embarrassing and the other downright dangerous – about people who discovered that pictures they posted online had reached far more people than originally intended.

• A newly-married man posted intimate pictures of his Hawaiian wedding on social networking site Facebook to share with “friends,” but when he mentioned it on micro-blogging site Twitter, a link was attached that gave more than 3,000 “followers” access to the photos.
• A mother was horrified to find a picture of her young daughter that she posted on Flickr – an online photo sharing application – used in an improperly suggestive way on another website. When she posted a warning, strangers used the Internet to find her phone number and home address. 

To show how easily available information is online, CNN gave the mother’s name – with her permission – to a private investigator who specializes in harvesting information from the Internet; he found 100 pages of possible links in less than two minutes.

Of course, posted photos are just the tip of the iceberg that is data privacy in the Internet age. CNN reports that more and more Americans are making their private information public on sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube, and warns that any time users hit the "send" button, their information is no longer their own.

While many websites try to provide customers with the tools they need to protect their personal information, the bottom line is that people are going to have to deal with minimal privacy in the future, according to the CNN report, which concludes with the following advice: “Privacy is dead. Get over it.”

However, while privacy may be dead, more people are realizing that personal data – including personally identifiable information (PII) such as name, address, birthday, and social security number (SSN) – needs to be protected at all costs and at every moment. One way individuals can view their own personal data and make sure that the information is current, secure, and accurate is by performing a "personal" background check on themselves.

While most background check providers only service employers and companies, MyBackgroundCheck.com – the nation’s leader in consumer requested and applicant supplied background checks – is at the forefront of the growing movement empowering individuals to take control of their personal information through personal background checks that they may use as jobseekers, students, volunteers, and consumers worried about identity theft.

To learn more about personal background checks from MyBackgroundCheck.com, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 800-503-2364. To follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

For most jobseekers currently looking for work, the more exposure they get through resumes, applications, and networking – both online and off – the better their chances are of finding work.

Unfortunately, according to an article in the Contra Costa (CA) Times, exposing personally identifiable information (PII) such as names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers (SSNs) and driver’s license numbers also increases the chances of jobseekers suffering from identity theft.

The Contra Costa Times reports that the World Privacy Forum – a nonprofit, public interest research group – receives many phone calls each week from jobseekers who have been victimized by identity theft while searching for work, a problem that should only get worse in a bad economy.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), over 50,000 Californians reported being victimized by identity theft in 2008 – the second highest rate in the nation – and employment-related identity theft beat out credit-card fraud and accounting to rank first with 20 percent of all identity theft complaints to the FTC from the state. Overall, the damage caused by identity theft in 2008 was nearly $50 billion.
 
In the article, the World Privacy Forum offers several tips for jobseekers on preventing identity theft, including:

• Avoid vaguely worded job offers;
• Choose job search sites and resume databases with good privacy practices;
• Never put a SSN on your resume (federal or state jobs are exceptions) but provide it when at an interview or when asked permission for a background check;
• Don’t scan IDs or driver's licenses for a job offer, and;
• Post a resume directly on the Web site of the employer or company you wish to work for.

Another way for jobseekers to protect sensitive personal information from identity theft is by performing “personal” background checks on themselves to ensure their employment data is current, secure, and accurate. Besides protecting against identity theft, these background checks can also be used by jobseekers for employment purposes, since most employers these days – 80 percent according to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) – require job applicants to undergo some type of pre-employment background check before hiring.

Where can jobseekers find "personal" background checks? While most background check firms only service employers, MyBackgroundCheck.com – the nation’s leading provider of applicant-supplied background checks – helps both jobseekers and potential employers keep personal information safe from identity theft during the pre-employment background check process.

For more information on how personal background checks can help protect jobseeker data from identity theft, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MybackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

A report from ESPN.com reveals that while the New York Yankees were celebrating their record 27th World Series with a victory parade, some "overzealous" fans apparently got carried away and tossed unshreded documents containing sensitive personal data such as Social Security numbers out of windows instead of more traditional confetti.

An auditor attending the victory parade for the 2009 World Series champion Yankees told The New York Post he found unshredded documents containing sensitive personal data – including Social Security numbers, financial information, pay stubs, court files, and balance sheets – in the mountains of shredded paper tossed from skyscrapers by office workers as the baseball players rode through Manhattan.

The founder of one financial firm said his company had reprimanded one “overzealous” employee for throwing records containing personal data out the window that should have been shredded, ESPN.com and the Post reported, and he was just one of several fans who apparently began tossing files containing personal data out windows when they couldn't get their hands on regular confetti.

While one can understand the enthusiasm of the crowd, personal data and the privacy of individuals should be protected at all times by companies to help prevent identity theft and fraud – even during a victory parade.

MyBackgroundCheck.com – a pioneer in consumer requested background checks – helps individuals perform “personal” background checks on themselves to keep the personal data contained in their criminal background checks current, secure, and accurate. For more information on personal background checks help protect personal data, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com