How To Prevent Identity Theft

This is a new trend in Identity Theft and it can be deadly. If your identity is stolen and the person who stole it uses it for medical treatment, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise. WHen the Doctor diagnoses and treats this person he enters that information on a MIB. These MIB reports are where doctors find information on blood types, allergies to medications, and other very important information about you. If those records are changed, the results could be devastating. If your blood type was changed and you needed blood, you could die from that. Not only that, if someone gets medical treatment and doesn't pay for it, you will be on the hook for the charges. This kind of thing was reported in Readers Digest. I have the link listed below. Read the whole article and follow their advice.

When I tell people about Identity Theft, they let me know that they already have it with their credit card.
Here is a typical conversation I have with someone.

Q:Do you have money set aside for Identity Theft?
A: My credit card has ID Theft Protection

Q: Great, what happens if your identity is stolen?
A: I'm not sure

99% of the people I have talked to, signed up for Identity Theft Protection and they don't realize that they are going to be the ones doing all of the work. They are going to be the ones that fill the paperwork out, call the credit agencies, contact local law enforcement, and the list goes on and on. You could have done that on your own. These credit card ID theft protection programs are incredibly time consuming and you don't get paid to do it. You also need to read the fine print. What do you need to do on your end, so you don't become liable for charges?

1. Credit Card Identity Theft
2. Medical Identity Theft
3. Social Security Identity Theft
4. Criminal Identity Theft
5. Character Identity Theft

Everyone knows senior citizens are the most preyed upon group of people that scammers hit. There are things you can do to prevent some of the scamming. First, make a photocopy of your medicare card. Take a magic marker and cover over all but the last four digits. Put that in your purse or wallet and leave your card at home. Any hospital will be able to get your information from your four last digits. This way, if your purse or wallet is stolen, you don't have to worry about having your social security number compromised!

NOTE****THIS STORY IS FICTIONAL****To my knowledge this has never happened. For this example, let's say you and your spouse are in the process of adopting two children. You decide that you want to go to the car dealership and purchase a mini-van. The salesman sells you a mini-van and off you go. At night, the cleaning crew comes into the dealership at night. Your salesman forgot to lock his desk. One of the cleaning crew, takes a copy of your loan application and brings it home with him/her. He/She sells your information to someone, who in turn uses your identity and is arrested for prostitution and used your id. They are let out on bail. Two weeks later, when their trial comes up, they don't show up. The court issues a bench warrant. You are driving home one day and you are pulled over on a routine traffic stop, and you are thrown in jail. Next, child protective services comes in and takes your 2 children that you are trying to adopt. You have to call a lawyer to get this cleared up. What a nightmare. Guess what, it's not over. The car dealership is on the hook for fines from the government and they can be sued by people in civil court. Again, this was fictional, but it could happen. Folks, we can't bury our head in the sand on this one. You need to be protected.

For this example, let's assume someone gets paid $10.00 an hour. That's about 20k before taxes.

The National average for time it takes to clear your identity is 600 hours.
-600 hours x $10.00 an hour = $6000.00
The National average for out of pocket expenses is $1200.00.
___________________________________________________
$6,000.00
+$1,200.00
__________
$7200.00

As You can see $7200.00 is a significant amount of money for someone who is making 20k a year. That would reduce their before taxes earnings to $12,800.00.