Identity Theft Prevention is the key to keeping your credit secure

For a while identity theft seemed to be decreasing, but theives got smarter and cases of fraud have been skyrocketing. Most thieves still obtain personal information through traditional rather than electronic channels. In the cases where the method was known, 68.2% of information was obtained off-line versus only 11.6% obtained online.
Conventional methods such as through lost or stolen wallets, misappropriation by family and friends, and theft of paper mail are among the most common ways thieves gain access to information. But Theives also get personal information by email scams and unsecure web connections.

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Medical Identity Theft Turns Patients Into Victims
By Michelle Andrews (credit given)
Posted February 29, 2008

If identity thieves were to disregard your financial accounts and instead target your medical information, your first thought might well be, "Take my medical identity. Please." What nut would want your high cholesterol, trick knee, and family history of Alzheimer's? The answer is simple: one without health insurance who needs surgery or prescription drugs, or someone who sees a medical ID as the open sesame that will allow him or her to collect millions in false medical claims. These thieves don't actually want your medical ailments, of course, but by pretending to be you they can get what they're really after. Untangling the mess is hard: Unlike financial identity theft, there's no straightforward process for challenging false medical claims or correcting inaccurate medical records. For victims, the result can be thousands in unpaid charges, damaged credit, and bogus, possibly dangerous details cluttering up their medical records for years to come.

Medical identity theft currently accounts for just 3 percent of identity theft crimes, or 249,000 of the estimated 8.3 million people who had their identities lifted in 2005, according to the Federal Trade Commission. But as the push toward electronic medical records gains momentum, privacy experts worry those numbers may grow substantially. They're concerned that as doctors and hospitals switch from paper records to EMRs, as they're called, it may become easier for people to gain unauthorized access to sensitive patient information on a large scale. In addition, Microsoft, Revolution Health, and, just this week, Google have announced they're developing services that will allow consumers to store their health information online. Consumers may not even know their records have been compromised. In January, a new law took effect in California that requires providers to let consumers know if their medical information has been "breached." But only a handful of other states spell out notification requirements regarding unauthorized release of patient medical data. In contrast, most states have so-called breach laws that address accidental disclosures of financial information; these may also apply to medical data in certain instances. This month, Democratic Reps. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, with support from several privacy groups and Microsoft, introduced a bill that would strengthen safeguards protecting access to consumers' medical information and make it a federal requirement to notify patients if their healthcare data get exposed.

Brandon Reagin didn't realize someone had snatched his medical identity until his mother called to tell him he was the lead suspect in a car theft in South Carolina in 2005. The 22-year-old marine had lost his wallet more than a year earlier while celebrating with friends after completing boot camp at Parris Island, near Beaufort, S.C. After his training, he was posted to California. But in South Carolina, Reagin lived on, as an impostor used his military ID and driver's license to not only test-drive new cars and then steal them but also visit hospitals on several occasions to treat kidney stones and an injured hand, running up nearly $20,000 in medical charges. Reagin found out about the unpaid hospital bills when he asked for a credit report following the car theft. "It was horrible," he says. "And what made it worse is that no one really knew what to do when it first started happening."

Reagin got nowhere with local police, but with the help of a state senator, he finally connected with the U.S. attorney's office in South Carolina. Staff there notified the Secret Service, and Reagin's doppelgänger, a 30-something guy named Arthur Watts from a tiny Midlands town called Blythewood, was eventually arrested. Watts pleaded guilty last September to identity theft and is awaiting sentencing.

But for Reagin, now serving in Iraq, the case isn't closed. Because of the outstanding hospital bills, the state intercepted his $362 tax refund, money he has yet to see. And although the hospitals no longer dun him for the unpaid balances, he's still trying to clean up his credit. (In addition to racking up medical bills, Watts opened cellphone and other accounts in Reagin's name and stole another car.) There's another potential problem: The hospitals Watts used may have medical records in Reagin's name for treatment he never received. If he visits his family in South Carolina and needs medical attention, those records could complicate his treatment, even cause harm. And if those medical records someday become electronically linked to one big nationwide health information network, as envisioned by the Bush administration, some privacy experts worry it may be impossible to find and correct the errors once they percolate through the vast interconnected system. Others argue that the technology could actually make tracking errors easier. The reality is unclear.

Since being founded in 1972 by Jules B. Kroll, Kroll has expanded beyond investigative and security services to include corporate advisory and restructuring, consulting and other risk mitigation services.
Kroll's expansion started in the 1980s, when the company began helping corporate clients size up the financial standing of suitors and takeover targets. Kroll quickly became known as Wall Street's "private eye."

By the 1990s, strategic acquisitions and mergers helped Kroll become a full-service global risk consulting company. By acquiring companies specializing in forensic accounting, background screening, drug testing, security engineering, corporate restructuring and electronic-data recovery, Kroll was able to complement its traditional investigative and intelligence expertise.

Today, Kroll is structured to help clients overcome a wide variety of challenges they face around the world. Kroll offers a full range of risk mitigation services, including corporate advisory and restructuring; forensic accounting, valuation and litigation consulting; electronic evidence and data recovery; business intelligence and investigations; background screening, and security consulting.

Headquartered in New York with offices in more than 33 countries, its multidisciplinary corps of more than 3,800 employees serves a global clientele of law firms, financial institutions, corporations, non-profit institutions, government agencies, and individuals.

In 2004 Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MMC) acquired Kroll Inc. in a $1.9 billion cash transaction. As a result of the acquisition, Kroll became an operating unit of MMC, the global professional services firm with more than 54,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue of approximately $11 billion.

1. Dumpster diving- Thieves will steal your information from paperwork that hasn't been properly disposed of. They may dig through your trash, company dumpsters, or even the city dump looking for personal information.
2. Phishing and Pretexting- These are similar methods of identity theft. Pretexting is where a person pretending to be with a legitimate company, like your insurance company, will call and try to get you to verify your account numbers or even your SSN. Phishing is basically the same except the thief will send you an email instead of calling you.
3. Shoulder surfing- This is where the thief will look over your shoulder when making transactions, at the ATM for example. They may even use devices like cell phones to record you without your knowledge.
4. Social Network Websites- While most adults are careful about the information they post on sites like MySpace, several teenagers and even some unknowing adults put them selves at risk of identity theft everyday. Identity thieves find names, addresses, and even birthdates on popular sites and use them to commit identity fraud.
5. File Sharing or Peer to Peer Software- The people accessing your music files also have access to other files on your computer.
6. Bogus Job Offers- Thieves will place fake employment ads and get you to fill out an application, including your social security number.
7. Fake sweepstakes or lotteries- These offers are usually sent by email and claim that you've won the Canadian lottery or some other sweepstakes that you've never actually entered.
8. Hacking- If you're computer isn't properly secured, a hacker can get access to all of the information you have stored. Hackers also get information by hacking the computer systems of organizations to get large quantities of information at once.
9. Stealing mail- This is similar to dumpster diving, except the thieves will actually steal your mail directly from your mailbox. They steal bank statements, pre-approved credit card offers, etc.
10. Lost or stolen personal items- It's pretty obvious how thieves steal your identity by stealing your wallet, PDA, or laptop. The same goes when you lose your personal items.
11. Working in your home- This may be one of the most invasive ways to get information. Contractors or other workers may find and use account numbers or other information you have out in plain view.
12. Changing your address- The thief will often forge your signature to have your mail forwarded to another address. They will then get information from your bank statements, or they may apply for your pre-approved credit card offers.
13. Copying information during transactions- Dishonest company employees will sometimes steal your credit card information while processing your transactions. They can do this when you're at the company or when you give your information over the phone.
14. Credit report- Thieves may pose as a potential employer or landlord to get a copy of your credit report. They can find out a lot of your information this way.
15. Reading RFID- RFID stands for radio frequency identification. RFID tags can be found on certain credit cards and other types of cards. Thieves build RFID readers that, if within proper range of you, can get the information off of your card