Some Facts About Medical Identity Theft

Can identity thieves be using your medical records and health insurance information to get medical treatment and prescription drugs? Do people use your information to submit false bills to insurance companies? You bet they do and that's why millions of people worldwide have been victims of medical identity theft.

Medical identity theft occurs when your medical records or health insurance records are used by someone else to obtain medical related services. This could be the worst type of identity theft because it can affect you in so many ways. If someone steals your medical insurance number and goes to a doctor or hospital and receives services, possibly even surgery, you can have some huge problems. It can also mean that your private medical information that should be confidential, may now be public.

Whenever someone uses your identity to get treatment, this becomes a part of your medical history which will contain information that is inaccurate, possibly leading to improper treatments. That information could be a different blood type, misleading test results, allergies or perhaps even a diagnosis of an illness such as HIV. This can result in adverse reactions to medications or getting the wrong blood type in a transfusion. There are enough errors that occur in medical treatments already without making the problems worse through bad information.

Now that your medical history has been altered, the effects on your insurance coverage and premiums are also in jeopardy. You may have unpaid insurance bills from services you didn't receive. Usually medical insurance does not pay for all of the charges leaving you responsible for the unpaid deductibles and co-payments. Your insurance benefits can reach their limits so when you do need medical care you will find that you are no longer insured. Not having health insurance can be a big problem anyway, especially for the elderly and people who have chronic health conditions.

Other issues could be credit problems and legal issues. Suppose someone receiving treatment using your information is found under the influence of illegal drugs, that may bring the police to your home or business. You can be denied employment because your credit rating has been damaged from the inaccurate information that now appears in your medical history. The HIPPA laws make it very difficult for you to get access to medical information. Just like other types of identity theft that everyone can fall victim to, you can count on a long battle to restore your identity by yourself.

It's everyone's responsibility to protect their own personal medical information. Identity theft cannot be completely prevented and with the rising costs of medical treatment along with the economic downturn, I only see this problem getting worse. This is just another reason why it's necessary to have a plan in place that works quickly to minimize the damage and restore your identity.

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Who Should Get Identity Theft Protection?

As you know doubt already know identity theft is a major problem in America. You may wonder if you are a likely candidate for identity theft. Most people are potential victims for this crime as you grow throughout your life exposed your personal identity many groups. You may have put down your Social Security number on a form, your address and phone number are easily found and other identifying information can be obtained through public records. so to answer the question briefly who should get identity theft protection, really everyone should as you can never be too careful.

However, if you are associated with an organization which has had its private records stolen you should get this option immediately. You have no doubt heard about this happening on the use where some cellular provider or credit card company has had their records hacked off of their servers. There will be a slight delay before many of these identities can be used, but have no doubt that they will be used for criminal purposes. It is a good idea to protect yourself from this before it comes by setting up identity protection.

Furthermore if you work in an industry that exposes your personal information more often than others, then it may be more important for you to get identity theft protection. Your level of exposure depends on how often your name and social security number ends up on contracts. So if you work in a job where you sign a loss of documents with your personally identifying information on it you should consider getting identity protection immediately.

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How Do Identity Protection Companies Work?

As modern commerce has made the world smaller and smaller in many ways, your personal information is now shared with more and more people across the planet. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it can be if it is abused. Identity theft has become a major problem across the planet over the last couple of decades. As your information is sent from place to place to make purchases, apply for credit, etc. there are more and more opportunities for your identity to be stolen. So this spawned a new industry for identity protection. This industry specializes in keeping negative items off of your credit report which do not belong to you and keeping others from utilizing credit in your name. But how do these companies work? We will discuss that in today's topic.

Normally when you wish to apply for credit you must provide some basic identifying information and then it is assumed that if you have this information you are in fact the person who is applying for the credit. Typically this will be your name, last known address, and Social Security number. Unfortunately is very easy to obtain this information now and so further measures must be taken.

Identity protection companies add an extra step to the application process. Anyone applying for credit in your name must have a correct password or other verification step. If this information is not provided then the owner of the credit report, you, will receive an alert that someone has attempted to use your credit and the attempt will not be successful.

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How Bad Is the Identity Theft Problem?

Armed robberies, car jackings and break-ins are serious crimes usually committed by a limited number of people. Identity theft is in a class by itself. A single individual can launch any number of attacks at anytime from anywhere and against virtually anyone.

The stealing of a person's confidential information is a major national and international problem. One of the best (and most recent) resources describing the scope of the problem in the United States is a "lagging" Special Report produced by the Bureau of Justice Statistics entitled, "Victims of Identity Theft, 2008".

More than 11.7 million people were affected by ID theft in the two year reporting period covered by the Department of Justice. The most commonly crime related to a person's confidential information was illegal purchases having been made on the existing credit card accounts of victims. One of the more surprising facts is that nearly forty percent (40%) of the illicit credit card fraud is committed by someone who is known to the victim.

More than half of the victims of identity theft suffered fraud against their accounts that totaled more than 17 billion dollars in the two-year time period covered by the BJS report. Current law and practices, fortunately, help protect consumers who detect the identity theft early and move to fight it. Doing so makes it easier to prevent additional losses.

A relatively small percentage of victims, seventeen percent (17%), actually report an identity theft crime to law enforcement. This basic fact is surprising because to assure the maximum amount of consumer protection that the law provides, an identity theft victim must file a criminal report with a law enforcement agency and an Identity Theft Complaint form with the FTC.

Twenty three percent (23%) of identity theft victims suffered out-of-pocket expenses that averaged $788.00 per victim. The damages caused to the credit ratings of victims and the time lost in unraveling the fraud are difficult to measure. The obvious stress and inconvenience are also hard to determine. The effects of an identity theft crime against a victim tend to last for a while and disrupt the victim's life.

The majority of the fraud perpetrated against individuals (53%) was committed against existing credit card accounts. The remainder of incidents was directed against bank accounts, telephone, insurance or online fraud. Thirty percent (30%) of the victims knew the identity thief.

Among the reasons that identity theft is prevalent is that it is relatively low-risk for the criminal. The actual crime(s) may already have been committed by the time the victim discovers the fraud. Complicating matters is that only a small amount of victims report the crime to law enforcement agencies as pointed out previously. Worse yet, a number of local law enforcement agencies across the country refuse to receive a criminal report related to identity theft. Those agencies are virtual havens in which identity thieves can set up "virtual dead drops" for stolen merchandise being delivered.

The burden of preventing ID theft is basically left on the shoulders of the individual citizen and private industry. The identity thieves know it and they look for vulnerabilities and opportunities. You can help deter identity theft by being vigilant with your personal digital profile and by reporting any identity theft fraud perpetrated against you. If your local law enforcement agency refuses to allow you to file a criminal report, insist upon filing a miscellaneous crime report.

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Internet Identity Theft - Losing Your Identity Over The Internet

A person stealing someone's identity and robbing you off your existence sounds like some movie story or a story out of some fiction novel. But what was a fantastic story at one time is now a horror in everyday existence. The unlimited vast field of web and high technology is a playfield for cyber thieves.

Today hacking and identity theft is a nightmare. The hackers and con men are having a field day at your expense. It is not as if they are stealing some sweets from a child, it is a serious matter and more than that. These hackers are playing with personal lives of people; they are playing with social status of people.

How is one stripped of his identity? When another person impersonates as 'YOU', and does everything under the cover of your name, it is considered as identity theft. Your personal bank account numbers, your credit card number, your social security number and other matters related to your business or work is being misused by someone else without your knowledge, this culminates into identity theft.

The hackers and online thieves open up bank accounts with the help of personal information regarding birth dates, and numbers you use for social security. They make purchases and bills are accumulated in your name. The credit issuer is approached on your identity to change the address on the credit card.

The identity thief makes transactions in your name and has the bills sent to a completely new address. This goes on behind the victim's back. Phone numbers and bank accounts are opened and fraud checks are issued in the victim's name.

Let us see how simple it is to get to know everything about another person.

One is surprised as to the amount of information which is available on the internet about you. There are companies which supply your date of birth, residential address, address of your workplace, details of your immediate neighbors, your civil and criminal record. Your social security number, your bank account numbers are made available to people via net. West Publishers and Lexis-Nexis do such kind of work.

Many small companies also have information about you. Research works done by companies on net are great source of information. Personal information is just a few clicks away.

Any misuse of your personal information by the thieves is an identity theft. A person wants to impersonate as you for your money. Common reasons are like acquiring money with your credit and debit cards. According to the US Postal Service it is a fast spreading crime in America.

Identity theft affects more than a thousand people in the State in a day. This is according to survey done by one company. Secret service of United States made 9,455 arrests in 1997. Around 40,000 thefts take place every year. The country loses almost $2 dollars a year. Every year there is 50% rise in identity loss crisis.

Serious effects of these criminal actions lead a person to wait for justice for many years; people have to face prison walls for thieving in their names. Where you incur a loss of $5, you pay much more than that to get things right.

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How To Avoid Corporate Identity Theft - Card Skimming

Many people think that corporate identity theft occurs only at a high level within the organization. However, it is important to note that identity theft can also happen at the cardholder level and that this type of theft can easily be avoided.

Unauthorized users can access corporate card information in several ways, but skimming is one of the more prevalent methods used. By understanding how to recognize and avoid skimming tactics, you can easily lower the risk of corporate identity theft affecting your company.

What is skimming?

Skimming is a type of fraud where the information from your credit or fuel card is illegally captured by an electronic reading device and transferred to a duplicate card. This duplicate card can then be used to make unauthorized charges to your corporate account.

Skimmers, the illegal device that captures your card information, come in various shapes and sizes. These are typically small and unobtrusive devices and can be molded to fit over a banking ATM or gas pump card-reading device.

How do I identify it?

Because these devices can fit easily over card reading machines, and because most machines are not equipped to recognize when skimmers are in place, it is important for the cardholder to be able to detect these devices before information is captured. Fortunately, there are several effective ways to recognize skimming devices.

Look for tiny hidden cameras in and around the card-reader device. Instead of being placed directly over card readers, cameras used for skimming can take snapshots of your card as it is being used. Unauthorized users can then determine your name, card number, card type, and expiration date from these photographs, and use this information to make purchases.

Feel the key pad to make sure nothing has been placed over it that might be used to record your PIN number. Once a skimming device has captured your card number and expiration date, the unauthorized user only needs to determine your PIN number before being able to use your information.

Apply a small force to the card reader. A skimming device will usually dislodge easily from the true card reader. Do not extend enough pressure to damage any equipment, as a gentle shake can often be enough to displace the skimming device.

Be aware of your surroundings and people who may be watching in an attempt to "shoulder surf" to obtain your PIN number. Shoulder surfing is a term used to describe when unauthorized users stand close enough behind you to detect the PIN number you enter onto the card reader.

If you are suspicious about any card reader, report it immediately to the merchant, and check with your card company to ensure that no vital information has been compromised.

How can I mitigate these risks?

Recognizing card skimming is the first step towards avoiding it. You can also stay up-to-date on the latest information related to card skimming and other corporate fraud issues by visiting the Better Business Bureau ( www.bbb.org/business ) and the FTC ( www.ftc.gov ) websites on a regular basis.

Your employees are typically the most frequent card users, so it is also important to educate your employees about skimming fraud, how to recognize it, and how to avoid it.

Finally, check your fuel card and credit card invoices frequently for unauthorized charges, and report any suspicious activity immediately to your card company.

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Defend Yourself With Identity Theft Protection Services

Have you heard of identity fraud and been so paranoid concerning it? If so, don't hesitate to confabulate with the experts that have excellent quality identity theft protection services. At any time you feel you are followed or there are some suspicious folks on the Internet who keep on asking you as regards to your personal information, mainly your accounts and passwords, then you could become a subject or victim of identity theft. Identity is a form of fraud that impersonates or steals information from other people to access their personal data is like credit cards and bank accounts. This misdeed is surely happening in most areas of the world. Through identity theft, the victim can suffer great consequences, most especially financial losses. To avoid such terrible things from developing, secure yourself with the fine protection service.

In picking the perfect service, you ought to think about its actions which can surely protect you and supply you aid in restoring your identity that had been robbed. Such services are done to protect and serve more people who have become a casualty and to those who will be a victim. Lessening and preventing identity theft from developing is what these services do. If you are one of those who make large income, you will be most likely victimized by identity thieves. For you to be secured and be less concerned about other folks stealing your identity, you should decide an identity protection company that monitors your identity and hinders identity theft from happening. By doing so, you can now be more assured that your identity is safe and away from identity thieves. But do not be too confident in a way that you throw out documents that contain tidbits regarding you or those that give out personal information. Identity thieves have been documented to go through documents that lend the information needed for them to realize their illegal acts.

To be more convenient in choosing which identity theft protection services you should take, bring extra thoughts to comparing the different companies and services that have the finest objectives concerning identity theft. Such service must have trickery detection, database monitoring, credit monitoring (for your credits), financial loss recovered, credit card monitoring, address affirmation, children's services (for your kids identity safety), and including wallet protection. These services must be proven and tested. In that way, your trust would be with them. And it allows you to let them handle everything that is vital to do in order to keep your identity safe at all times. Be certain to catch identity theft protection services reviews to discover more about the companies that offer them.

Your Identity Is Safe At all times With Identity theft protection services

With these services, you and your identity will be reserved safe from the various methods that identity thieves resort to in order to commit their crime. But even if you are frequently monitored by these services, you must remember that you must not provide your personal information of login credentials to people you don't know that seems suspicious. Several ways of stealing your identity can include stealing things in your vehicle, homes, by pick pocketing, snatching bags or simply by using the Internet. Don't be fooled by Internet anonymous and don't be thoughtless in handing out your information stupidly. This way, you can help prevent yourself from being a victim.

Your stress would decrease with the help of identity theft protection services. This is plainly because of the mere fact that these services will do all that is needed to do to assure you that your identity is safe and is afar of being corrupted by identity hackers. To avoid identity theft from happening, be stricter when it comes to sharing your personal data. Only give your information by the time that it is highly needed. Be safe with the services that are certain to supply you protection.

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Identity Theft - Get the Facts Before It's Too Late

Are you concerned about someone stealing from your home - breaking in when you aren't there and robbing you blind? Luckily, you probably have taken steps to prevent that since you are aware of the threat. How about your online identity and credit history, are those protected as well? If you answered no to this question, please read the rest of this article for your own good.

You say you aren't that worried about it? OK, so you don't go online to make a lot of purchases. Did you know that your information is already being stored in numerous databases around the country, even though you don't shop online? If you have a credit card, any kind of loan, an account with your utility company, even having an iPhone or other smart phone that you use, your information can be vulnerable to web hackers. The scams and schemes these criminals have devised over the past few years is astonishingly clever, and they get better at it every year. In fact many supposedly secure databases have been hacked into the in the recent past, some with millions of accounts. This has become almost routine, and no end is in sight. Most of these thefts aren't even making the news, since the companies involved don't want you to know about the break-in.

So what can be done to protect yourself? Of course experts recommend checking your bank balance and credit card statements routinely to make sure there aren't any unauthorized charges. But what if someone finds your credit card statement you threw away in the trash? They can actually pull this information and with a few other items from your identity, create an alternate identity that you would be totally unaware of. Sounds scary, I know. It happens almost every hour and every day in this country, and in many ways.

If you download music onto your iTunes account on your computer, and also routinely "share" songs with others from so-called sharing networks such as Limewire and Kazaa, hackers may have planted viruses in any one of the songs you downloaded. Unknown to you, this virus may open up a port on your PC while you are not aware, and send information to the hackers PC in another country. This is another reason you should also have a strong anti-virus software, but many people don't even realize how important these things are and fail to exercise caution.

There are also other ways that criminals can steal your identity, such as Vishing (virtual phishing) - sending text messages or emails that mimic contacts you already know and trying to get your social security number or even your bank login and password. You would never fall for that though, right? Many people unfortunately do, and without some kind of protection their identities are stolen and their credit is ruined in a matter of days or weeks.

Criminals have gotten much smarter over the years, since they know that people are more aware of their tactics. Coming up with newer and better scams is all they do! So each year more people lose their good credit, lose thousands of dollars from their bank accounts, or have many thousands of dollars charged to their credit cards. Without any type of protection, it is hard to restore your good credit again and can take years. Don't go without protection any longer, take steps today to protect your financial future.

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How Can You Protect Your Computer From Identity Thieves?

We live in an asymmetric threat environment. That means a wide variety of danger exists and the harm that can be done to an individual or business is varied and largely indeterminable. Both the source and type of the threats that can arise are difficult to predict. You must, therefore, be prepared on many fronts. Protecting your computer against identity thieves requires that specific action be taken.

You likely store large amounts of personal and confidential information on your computer. The thought that a malicious attacker can gain access to your private information is unacceptable. The challenge, however, remains for you to secure your computer against the loss of personally identifiable information. There are, fortunately, a number of steps that you can take to protect your valuable information.

1.) Choose a robust password or passphrase and avoid giving it to anyone. Passwords should be at least eight characters in length and contain at least one capital letter and one special character. Avoid using words commonly found in the dictionary.

2.) Lock your workstation whenever you walk away. By doing so, the information on your screen won't be visible to casual passersby.

3.) Install current updates for all of the software contained on your computer so that identity thieves are unable to exploit vulnerabilities and gain access to your confidential information.

4.) Purchase and use a security software package. There are many products. Find a comparison chart and study the features. Purchase and install the one that best fills your needs. Set the program to routinely search for updates.

5.) Consider encrypting extremely sensitive information on the entire hard drive. Any unauthorized individual who steals your information would face difficulty in being able to read your valuable information.

6.) Avoid opening email attachments which could possibly contain malware. It could, for example, install a key-logger on your computer. Key-loggers record your keystrokes (i.e. passwords, account numbers, etc.) and "phone home" the confidential information to identity thieves.

7.) Be suspicious of any attempt to request information from you over the Internet. Identity thieves have been known to replicate the computer screens of a bank, for example. The fraudulent screen is presented to an unsuspecting computer user and he or she is asked to supply their account numbers or passwords. Telephone the office of any organization that contacts you over the Internet asking for private information.

8.) Encrypt any back-ups that you may have made of your critical personal information. Losing a USB or "flash" drive that contains critical information would be a disaster. Anyone who found it could access the information.

9.) Change the administrator's password that was already installed on the wireless router located in your home. Make it stronger. Choose the highest level of encryption that you can obtain for your router. You would otherwise be broadcasting confidential information in virtually every direction for as far as the wireless signal can reach.

10.) Enforce the same security best practices on your mobile devices that you do for your desktop computer. You otherwise invite identity thieves into your personal "information loop" whenever you log-in on a public "hot spot". Identity thieves work overtime using a class of software known as "packet sniffers". They reach out, grab the packages in which your wireless messages are being sent and save them to mine for confidential information.

Identity thieves find a "target rich" environment with computer and mobile devices. Take the necessary steps now to frustrate their efforts!

© Alliant Digital Services, 2011.

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A Few Signs of Identity Theft And How To Prevent It

Identity theft has caused a lot of damage to many lives, as sometimes it takes years for a victim to completely recover. When a thief steals a person's identity, the victim often times doesn't realize it's happened until a month or two has gone by. By this time, the thief is long gone and the victim is stuck with a significant amount of debt. For this reason, knowing some signs of identity theft could help limit the damage done. You will also learn what you can do to prevent being a victim in the first place.

Signs of Identity Theft

Your credit card company will call you and inquire about a purchase you made recently outside of the country. You know absolutely nothing about this. This is a definitive sign of identity theft, as someone as stolen your credit card number to purchase items.

Another obvious sign of identity theft is when your bank statements aren't adding up. You notice withdrawals or purchases that were made that you have no knowledge of. If this happens, check with the bank to verify whether this information is correct. If it is, then you can begin taking steps to limit the damage to your finances.

Also, if you haven't received any of your bills yet, then it's possible that a thief has stolen it from your mailbox. Then again, it could just mean they made a mistake. Either way, call the creditor and let them know of this.

Identity Theft Prevention

Always shred any receipts or documents with information that can be used against you. Bring in your mail as soon as possible to avoid the possibility of someone stealing it. Also, limit what you carry around with you. For instance, there is no reason to place your social security card in your wallet or purse unless you need it. This way, if you happened to get pick pocketed or your purse gets stolen, there is less for a thief to work with.

Prevention also applies to the internet as most of us have some personal information online. Having strong passwords helps protect unauthorized access to your accounts. Anti virus software is essential to protect against viruses that try to steal information. Avoid opening e-mails from people you don't know, but if you do then be very weary if they ask you for any personal details. Shop only at sites that you know are safe.

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The New Identify Theft - Medical Fraud

Identity theft is a very big problem and growing larger daily. Most people are concerned about credit card theft and use of debit cards. However there is an even bigger problem; medical-related fraud.

Any type of identity theft usually ruins your credit rating and makes you liable for large bills that you didn't create. You get caught up in a web of false information that will plague you financially and medically for years to come.

Medical theft causes even more problems. If someone steals your medial insurance cards and goes to the doctor or hospital, receives services, maybe even surgery, they have created a huge problem for you.

One: You don't find out until later, usually when the bill gets turned over to collection agency that you own a huge hospital and/or doctor bill.

Two: Your credit report takes a devastating hit.

Three: Your medical history is now altered; this can affect future insurance premiums.

Four: Whatever procedure, or diagnosis they received are now part of your medical history.

Five: Your insurance benefits may be maxed out, meaning that when you need medical care or surgery you may find that you are uninsured.

Six: You may experience being refused insurance because of pre-existing conditions you don't have

Seven: You may at risk for inaccurate treatments because another person's allergies, and medications may be listed on your medical records.

How to Defend Yourself:

The best way to defend yourself is do take steps to prevent medical identity theft in the first place. Take care of your insurance card. Guard it the same as you do your identification card, credit and debit cards Examine every Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statements that you get. Verify that each doctor and test are ones that you actually received. Also since the thief may use a false address be sure to ask for a summary of your EOB's at the end of each year. Check your credit reports regularly Stay away from free health fairs or screenings, if they ask for your insurance information.

What to Do If Suspect a Crime:

Act Fast Request a copy of your medical records-even if you have to pay for them Do not mention the possibility of Fraud to your doctor. If it gets put on the record that your information is mixed up with another person's information, privacy law will come into play. This means that your records will be kept confidential, even to you. If you confirm fraud tell the authorities. Call 1-877-IDTHEFT to report the situation.

In summary, guard your insurance information carefully, treat Identity Theft as seriously as it is.

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Top Three Reasons to Get Identity Theft Protection

Identity theft has become a major problem over the last couple of decades in America. As such people have taken measures to try to protect their identities the best they can from criminal use. One type of service which does this is identity theft protection. Although I highly recommend that you take personal measures to safeguard your defining information, such as your social security number, services such as identity protection have specific uses which you would have difficulty duplicating on your own. We will discuss these uses now.

First, identity theft protection services will send you alerts when any activity occurs on your credit report. This allows you to be aware of illicit activity and take appropriate action.

Second, these services perform a lock down on your credit report. This means that to add items to your report the individual must have a password or other verification tool. You should notice this while you are trying to get credit online. Before the completion of the credit application it will redirect you to a separate page to verify your identity. This page is set up by the protection service.

Third, if somehow and item does end up on your report this service can verify that it was not originated by you and that it should be removed for you. This can streamline the dispute process.

These are all services which are unique to services of this type and in this day of identity theft it is a good idea for everyone to put as many safeguards in place as possible.

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History Of Identity Theft - Protect A Deceased Loved One's Identity

Despite the fact that identity theft has been getting big press lately it is not a new phenomena. The history of identity theft is ripe with people who have attempted to steal other people's identity. Even before the time of computers.

Two of the most glaring examples of this are:

1. Anna Anderson who claimed to be Anastasia Romanov, the daughter of the last Czar of Russia. DNA testing would eventually expose he for the impostor that she was.

2. Bill Roberts aka Brushy Bill who claimed to be Billy The Kid after getting tired of claiming to be a member of the Jesse James gang.

There are many numerous other examples, too numerous to list here as you probably don't have the time to read until the end of the year.

The point of this article though is to make it clear that even in death we can still become the victim of identity theft. If it can happen to people like that it can happen to your loved ones too.

To help prevent this from happening so you can protect a deceased loved one's identity there are several steps to take.

1. Don't write the street address or the exact date of birth in the obituary.

2. If your the spouse, executor lawyer for the deceased notify the credit bureaus with all of the relevant information.

3. Close or transfer any and all accounts in that person's name. This includes credit cards, fitness club memberships, library memberships and bank accounts.

As you can see the history of identity theft can be traced back more than a century. It is sad that even our most vulnerable - our children and deceased relatives - need protection from identity theft. But with some careful steps when we ourselves are emotionally vulnerable we can successfully protect a deceased loved one's identity.

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High Tech World Equals High Tech Crime - Identity Theft

In today's world we have become the most advanced society ever known and while creating the world's fastest communicating system, we have become the laziest society ever to exist. We once knew everyone in our neighborhood by first name and where they lived. Today we socialize with most of the people we know by email and Facebook.

While this technology and communication has made it convenient for us to do nearly every chore faster and easier, at the same time we have left ourselves wide open to areas that we assume to be private, or at least inaccessible to others. Our favorite excuse is that our information is private so nothing will happen to us. Our technology has made it so easy that everywhere we go we leave a foot print in our online trail. Back in the old days we used to have some very good trackers such as Davey Crockett and Daniel Boone that were able to read all of the signs left behind and know exactly where they came from, where they led to, and who made them. In today's world we have developed a different type of tracker, one who is more interested in who we are and what kind of information we leave behind so that they might be able to use this information for their benefit and profit.

This activity is most commonly known as identity theft. Every transaction we make leaves a track that can be picked up by someone else. We are so busy in our personal lives that we take all of the conveniences for granted and do not take the time to realize just how vulnerable this convenience of society has made us. Even though there are ways to protect ourselves, we tend to overlook such things because it only happens to others and not us.

There are two kinds of people in this world, the one who has worked hard all their lives to have what they have and the one who works hard to protect what they have. Half of the battle is getting what you want and the other half is keeping what you have. If you think our system of commerce is well organized and very functional, you are right. But what happens if an error occurs? It is nearly impossible to fix such a mistake, especially if it is not in your favor. For example, with Identity Theft, do you realize how much time, money and embarrassment it would take to straighten your life out? If you or someone you know has ever been involved with our legal system, you know that this mess is easy to get into yet takes a very long time to get out.

The good news is there is a way to avoid all of this trouble. I am certain that you have health insurance for yourself and family to avoid financial disaster. Why not have theft identity and legal coverage to insure you from financial nightmare? This protection is going to cost a lot less than health insurance and, unfortunately, very necessary in this day and age.

Afraid Of Identity Theft? Why It Happens And How To Help Prevent It   Instant Steps That Every Identity Theft Victim Must Take   Identity Theft - Different Ways People Steal Your Identity   Identity and Theft: Solving The Identity Theft Nightmare   

White Collar Crimes Can Be Committed By Blue Collar Individuals

The term white collar crime was originally defined to mean "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation." In modern times, this category of crime is not defined by the social or professional status of the violator, but rather the nature of the crime itself.

No matter what type of white collar crime you are being charged with in Florida, a Miami criminal defense attorney can help. There are many potential defenses your attorney can use to help you fight these charges, based on the specific circumstances involved. While it's not always possible to have your charges dropped or reduced, it's always in your best interest to have a Miami criminal defense attorney help protect your legal rights during the proceedings.

Types of White Collar Crime

White collar crime is a term, not a criminal offense with which you can be formally charged. However, there are many non-violent crimes referred to as white collar.

The most common types of crimes referred to as "white collar crime" include:

• financial fraud (bank, credit card, bad checks, etc.);

• forgery;

• identity theft;

• mortgage/real estate fraud;

• money laundering;

• mail fraud;

• healthcare fraud;

• racketeering;

• tax fraud;

• Medicare fraud;

• securities fraud;

• wire fraud.

Defenses Against Charges of These Crimes

There are many potential defense strategies available against these types of charges. Depending on the actual crime for which you are being charged, your Miami criminal defense attorney can explain your options, as well as the strengths and challenges of your case. The evidence for most white collar crime generally involves heavy paperwork, making an experienced Miami criminal defense attorney all the more important to keep things in order.

If this is your first offense, a Miami criminal defense attorney may be able to argue a reduced sentence, since you do not have a history of this type of behavior. Smaller charges such as passing a single bad check may be dropped on the basis of a single mistake or miscalculation as the reason for the error.

Afraid Of Identity Theft? Why It Happens And How To Help Prevent It   Instant Steps That Every Identity Theft Victim Must Take   Identity Theft - Different Ways People Steal Your Identity   Identity and Theft: Solving The Identity Theft Nightmare   Identity Theft Facts