Single mother of four, Kathy Baker, lives from paycheck to paycheck trying to provide for her and her family. While browsing the vicious world wide web she came across an add reading “Get Cash FAST! No credit check needed just one click away!”. Desperate for cash with Christmas approaching Ms. Baker went against her better judgement and clicked on the add, filled out the paperwork, and patiently waited for her approval mail. With just one click Kathy Baker became a victim of identity theft.
Identity theft is a crime whereby criminals impersonate individuals, usually for financial gains. This crime is more likely to happen than getting your car stolen because every two seconds in the United States of America alone there is a new victim of
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The scariest part of having your identity stolen is that it can happen by doing some of the most basic things. No one ever thinks that a trip to the bank can result in having your identity stolen, but it can. While you are handling business with your personal bank teller the guy to the left of you can listen to your account information and use it for their personal favor, or sell it to a buyer. Either of these can result in fraudulent withdrawals from your account. This could also happen from a form of theft called “shoulder surfing”. Shoulder surfing is the technique where someone watches over your shoulder as you put in information such as your pin number at the atm. According to 2017 a study by the Ponemon institute 87% of people have have encountered these type of criminals. Along from scam ads and eavesdroppers the people you would least suspect can also steal what is most important to …show more content…
A thief may use your health insurance number to see a doctor or to get prescription drugs. These records can be obtained simply by visiting the doctor’s office and asking for your medical records. This can be detected in various ways because of all the red flags that pop up. Medical insurance is how majority of Americans pay for doctor visits and being denied is something to dread, especially for a medical condition you do not have. This is a sign of medical theft, your medical records showing conditions that you have never been diagnosed with or a bill for medical services you have not received. Another sign maybe a notice from your healthcare plan saying you have reached your benefit limit. Sixty-five percent of victims of medical identity theft pay an average of $13,500 to fix this crime making it more expensive to fix than credit card fraud. Th even more complicated part is finding out when you became the victim. On average victims learn about their credentials more than three months following the crime, and 30 percent do not know when they became victims. According to research done by Ponemon institute medical theft also have a negative impact on reputation. Forty- five percent of respondents say that embarrassment came in due to the exposure of personal health information. Medical records can also be released during a data breach, which is a cause of identity
One of the biggest contributors to health care costs that I have seen during my time in the healthcare industry is insurance fraud. One example of such fraud came about two months ago. I was taking a phone call from a provider that was upset that one of their claims had denied even though all of their previous claims had been paid. In researching with a partner plan it was determined that the claim denied because this medical provid...
If you believe a health care provider or health plan has violated your privacy you have the right to file a complaint with your health care provider and with DHHS.
Identity theft is something that has been around for some time and it will not be gone anytime in the future. With many of the technology that comes out every year may pose a threat to our privacy and personal information. The harm that an identity theft can cause can be from minor to severe. As a result no one would want to become a victim of an identity theft crime because we would never know if we can even restore everything to its original state. For those that have a dependency on technology, be careful about what you do, what you put on the Internet, what information you give out, this is because it could come biting you back into the future.
Health care fraud is an ever growing problem with in our country. This is not a new issue, nor an issue that will ever go way. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) health care fraud cost tax payers two hundred and seventy two billion dollars in 2013 (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2016). The numbers have continued to increase.
It is often disguised to look identical to the original keypad. Overlays allow thieves to capture your PIN number as you enter it, while still allowing the original keypad to receive the PIN number as well. By itself, an ATM overlay is not a tremendous source of identity theft. However, when combined with a mechanism that obtains your card information – such as a skimmer, loop, camera, or other device located at the ATM – a skimmer now allows the identity thief to have access to your bank account, including both your PIN and your debit or credit card number. As a component of ATM theft, ATM Overlay theft contributes to the estimated $1 billion in annual losses banks experience from ATM skimming
This issue can really affect people more than you think. Sometimes if you’re a victim of this you may not even get your money back. If you’re lucky you may get your money back, but you would have to wait a long time. As I said above the average amount of money stolen per theft is $4950. This money could easi...
Identity theft is an increasing epidemic. Some of the ways a person can commit identity
Identity theft has been around for decades, so it’s nothing new. The only difference now is that the general public and the government are aware of the problem and actively pursuing strategies to combat it. However, identity theft wasn’t always about stealing someone’s credit card information or trying to extort large amounts of cash. It began mostly as a political tool to stuff ballot boxes or used by teenagers to obtain fake ID’s in order to get around laws that prohibited underage people from participating in certain activities such as drinking alcohol. In more recent years however, identity theft has become much more sophisticated and advanced. With the help of computers and advanced technology, identity theft, especially through the electronic world, has become easier and easier for criminals to acquire. (FBI) Most people who engage in the illegal act typically use it for economic gain, essentially to get rich. As any crimes go, identity theft is a nonviolent crime that is relatively easy to conceal which attracts more people to at...
III. Thesis Statement: Identity Theft is rapidly becoming a national issue because anyone of us could be a victim of identity theft. How we protect our self, keep our information private, identify any signs of identity theft, and report and repair our credit is up to each one of us. We have to be vigilant about our protecting ourselves from criminals.
Today, with all the technology we have, it has become fairly easy for thieves to steal someone’s identity. One of the easiest ways for someone to steal your personal information is just by simply looking over a person’s shoulder as they insert personal information into a computer or an ATM machine. This process is known as shoulder surfing. According to ...
"Identity Theft and Your Financial Life." Daily Record [Baltimore] 23 Aug. 2004, Special to the Daily Record ed.: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 6 July 2011.
Identity theft according to Wikipedia.com is the deliberate assumption of another person's identity, usually to gain access to their finances or frame them for a crime. Less commonly, it is to enable illegal immigration, terrorism, espionage, or changing identity permanently.
In conclusion, identity theft is illegal, unethical and very dangerous to the victim. This is because identity theft can cause a lot of financial and reputation damage to the victim and his/her family. It is a shame that there are so many cases of this crime in the world today. Having said all of this, it is really important to prevent identity theft by being careful of your actions. However, as technology is advancing, it is becoming more and more harder to do so. Due to this fact, it is important for each individual to know what identity theft is and what they can do to prevent it from happening. After this is accomplished, identity theft will be minimized and this world will be a better and safer place.
America,” (Weidenfeld 1). Being the number one crime, identity theft is very dangerous. If your
Your identity is unsafe in more places than you may realize. Every store you walk in has the possibility or either having someone behind the counter, or someone hacking into a business from outside, readily waiting to steal your identity. Using your credit card in any store is never safe no matter what signs are posted around the store, or how big the company is; it’s not always the people who work there that want your identity. The article Identity theft growing, costly to victims in The Arizona Republic, J. Craig Anderson ...