Subscribe
Printer Friendly
Share this PageGovernment
Medicare receives 4.4 million claims a day and approximately 1 out of 10 of those are fraudulent. All of the fraudulent claims add up to a large sum of wasted time and money and the government is trying to put a stop to it. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General have been working together to reduce fraudulent activity.
In 2008, the DOJ and HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services worked together through the criminal and civil systems to secure 588 criminal convictions, obtain 337 civil administrative actions against individuals and organizations who were committing Medicare Fraud, and recovered more than a billion dollars in health care fraud monies . . . To date in fiscal year 2009, the Department of Justice has already recovered nearly a billion dollars in health care fraud monies and recorded 300 convictions.
In addition to catching Medicare thieves the DOJ and HHS want to enable seniors to participate in the fight. They want to raise awareness about the kinds of fraud that are happening and give seniors the tools they need to deter, detect and defend!
Medicare Fraud Examples
Here are a few examples of how Medicare is scammed out of billions of dollars a year.
- Medicare is billed for services or equipment not received
- An unathorized person uses a Medicare card to receive treatment, supplies or equipment
- Medicare is billed for equipment after it has been returned
- A company offers an unapproved Medicare drug plan
- A company leads you to join a Medicare plan using false information
Deter
Medicare recipients need to keep themselves safe.
- Treat your Medicare number and Social Security number like gold. Avoid carrying them in your wallet or purse.
- Your Medicare number is not needed to get free equipment. If someone offers you free equipment and then asks for your Medicare number, run away or hang up the phone.
- Your number is for your use only. It is illegal for others to file claims with your Medicare number.
Detect
Learn to recognize common schemes. A few common fraud schemes are:
- Being approached in grocery stores, parking lots, on the street, etc. and being offered goods, services or help in exchange for your Medicare number. Just run away!
- Receiving a call from a phone solicitor doing a health survey and asking for your Medicare number. Just hang up! They don't need your number to conduct a survey.
- Receiving a call from a telemarketer claiming to be with Medicare or Social Security asking for you to pay for equipment over the phone or the internet. Again, hang up!
Defend
It's critical that Medicare recipients check their statement summary sheets and look for:
- Were you charged for the same thing more than once?
- Are there doctor visit dates look unfamiliar?
- Were you over charged for a service?
- Were you charged for equipment or services that you didn't receive?
If you see any of these problems make a phone call to your provider or Medicare to get it resolved. It could just be a clerical error or it could be a fraudulent act that needs to be reported.
Help is Available
To some the task above may seem very overwhelming. The DOJ and HHS understand that seniors want to protect themselves but may not have the knowledge to do so. For this reason Senior Medicare Patrols (SMP's) were created. SMP's are groups or seniors, formed in communities, that help other senior citizens learn how to combat Medicare Fraud. They bring awareness to seniors in the community, teach seniors how to read and understand their Medicare summary statements and offer support.
- Use the www.smpresource.org web site to find a group in your area.
Medical identity theft and Medicare fraud are a huge problem that the government cannot tackle on its own. While they do their part it's important for senior citizens to do their part to protect themselves from medical identity theft and be on the watch for Medicare fraud.
Fight Back! Brochure
More detailed information is available in the Fight Back! Medical Identity Theft and Medicare Fraud brochure put out by the HHS.
HHS Even Webcast on Preventing Medial Identity Theft and Medicare Fraud
Video Points of Interest
- Time 7:11 Assistant Attorney General of Civil Division of DOJ, Tony West, discusses the consequences of Medicare fraud and the work of the DOJ and HHS partnership.
- Time 14:38 Inspector General, Dan Levinson, discusses new fraud education materials.
- Time 23:08 SMP volunteer, Joanne, discusses her experiences with Medicare fraud and her roll as part of the SMP in her community.
More information is available at Stop Medicare Fraud's website.
So you received a data breach notification in the mail… no big deal, right? Not according to Javelin Strategy & Research’s latest report. In fact, Javelin’s latest research reveals you are four times more likely to suffer identity fraud if you’ve received a data breach notification within the past year.
The average fraud victim will spend 30 hours and $496 out-of-pocket costs to restore their affairs, merchants and financial providers will spend billions to protect systems and brands, and law enforcement will work hard to chase the bad guys.
Many states around the country are enacting laws requiring entities that have experienced data security breaches to notify affected individuals whose personal information may be at risk. However, there seems to be a disconnect between breach notifications and consumer awareness of the risk they bring.
Why You Should Take Notice
- During each of the past three years, an average of 11% of consumers received a breach notification.
- Of these consumer breach victims, more than 33% experienced exposure of their Social Security numbers and 15% had their ATM PINs compromised.
- Despite 19.5% of breach victims suffering some kind of fraud in the past year, only 2% attribute their fraud to the breach.
Come On, Do I Really Need To Worry About This?
It might be a good idea considering the Identity Theft Resource Center has already tracked 356 data breaches so far this year. Forty-six of those breaches have involved financial institutions, and when they or their third-party service providers are breached, it’s nasty.
Take for example the Heartland Payment Systems breach earlier this year. The result of this breach was a staggering compromise of 130 million credit and debit cards. Now that’s a lot of Visa cards…yikes!
What You Can Do?
There is very little we can do to avoid data breaches, however there are steps that we can take to better prepare ourselves for the next time that breach notification shows up in the mailbox:
- If you get a data breach notification, don’t dismiss it. "Data breach notifications are intended to help consumers take protective action," said Mary Monahan, Javelin Managing Partner & Research Director.
- Obtain credit monitoring services. Most companies will provide this free of charge in the event of a security breach, so take them up on it. You may also consider employing a more complete credit monitoring service or even initiating a credit freeze.
- Limit the amount of sensitive data you give out online or over the telephone. If the requested information has nothing to do with the transaction you’re making, don’t provide it. For more on this, read our article about becoming a "privacy grouch."
- Avoid or be cautious using wireless devices, “convenience cards”, credit cards or unfamiliar online transaction sites.
Lastly, remember the words of the orator, Robert Green Ingersoll when he said:
“It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.”
Ben Bernanke is a victim of identity theft. This is proof positive that it can happen to anyone.
Ben Bernanke - the Federal Reserve Board chairman - was one of hundreds of victims of an elaborate identity-fraud ring, headed by a convicted scam artist known as "Big Head," that stole more than $2.1 million from unsuspecting consumers and at least 10 financial institutions around the country.
How Did It Happen?
On August 7, 2008, Anna Bernanke - Ben Bernanke's wife - was at a Starbucks when her purse was stolen off the back of her chair.
What Was in Her Purse?
It's not good...
- Driver's License (no problem)
- Four credit cards (not so great - the fewer the better)
- Checkbook (no problem)
- Social Security card (OUCH!!!)
So the thieves had Mrs. Bernanke's SSN, Date of Birth (from the Driver's License), home address, and home phone (from the checks). This is the perfect combination of personal data.
It goes without saying that you should never carry your Social Security card in your purse or wallet. It should be tucked away in a very safe place at home or in a bank lock box. You should also limit the number of credit cards you carry. Just think of how many banks you'd like to call and/or fraudulent transactions you want to deal with and limit your cards accordingly.
Who Were the Thieves?
The thieves were part of a crime ring called "The Cannon to the Wiz." Here is the entry from the Urban Dictionary for "cannon":
Cannon - Old school term for a skilled pickpocket. "
These thieves were after personal information as well as checks and credit cards. They worked in government or medical offices or were simple pickpockets or mail thieves. They attended major sporting events in order to target victims with wallets and purses full of loot. One such victim was Donna Pendergast - an assistant Michigan Attorney General. Her experience went like this:
The robber was so adroit he managed to lift the wallet from her purse without her even knowing it. "They took it right out of my purse while it was on my shoulder," she said. "I didn't feel a thing."
Have They Been Caught?
Yes and no.
Federal agents busted the identity theft ring this summer, but George Lee Reid - the one who fraudulently used the Bernanke's checks to steal $9,000 - had the charges dropped against him, but the Feds are now searching for him again on related charges.
More information on this story from Newsweek.
From a recent UC Berkeley report:
More than half of the internet’s top web sites use a little known capability of Adobe’s Flash plug-in to track users and store information about them, but only four of them mention the so-called Flash Cookies in their privacy policies.
Under the direction of Chris Hoofnagle of the Information Privacy Programs at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, the researchers discovered that most web users aren’t familiar with Flash cookies and that Flash web cookies can’t be controlled through the cookie privacy controls in a browser. Even more interesting was the use of Flash cookies to ‘re-spawn’ or bring back to life traditional browser cookies that had been deleted on customer computers. In the study even several federal government web sites were found to contain Flash cookie ID information. The federal government has a policy of banning the use of traditional browser cookies.
What’s all the fuss about? Internet web sites often attach browser ‘cookies’—small strings of identifying text and numbers—to your computer to help them keep track of you and your preferences when you visit their sites. In theory this is a useful connection between you and the web sites you visit. For instance, an online book vendor could store your customer preferences information to better help you find what you want and make it easier to make your purchases.
However, like many useful, good things on the web, browser cookies have turned out to be an avenue for identity thieves to find us and our personal information. A cookie that no one knows about and that is not controllable through our web browsers, and can be used to re-spawn traditional browser cookies—could be a useful avenue for identity thieves indeed.
Changing Flash Preferences
Removing Current Site Cookies
Turns out, Adobe has a Settings Manager on its site where you can control how Flash cookies are stored along with other things. If you right-click on a piece of Flash code in your browser you can select "Settings" and get to this special place. Or you can just click our handy link: Adobe Website Storage Settings Panel.
What you should be seeing is something like this:
Here you can see which cookies have been written to your computer along with the ability to DELETE all of them. That's something I would strongly consider. Remember, however, that there are some benefits with these cookies. If you frequent sites that use this technology (and many do) you will be deleting some of your settings with those sites and you may have to re-enter text each time you visit.
There is risk/reward with every choice you make in life...
Even if you decide to push the Delete all Sites button, you still have some work left.
Stopping New Sites from Writing Cookies
Even if you deleted the cookies that have already been written to your computer, you'll need to keep new cookies from being written as well. Luckily, Adobe has created a way to do that:
Adobe Global Storage Settings Panel
If everything goes according to plan, you should be seeing something that looks like this:
Here you can tell Flash not to store any cookies in the future. Just drag the slider over to "None" and select "Never Ask Again." That's it!
Flash Cookie Removal Tools
Here are some other tools if you want 3rd party help with managing or controlling Flash cookies:
Windows:
- Better Privacy extension for Firefox -
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6623 - Ccleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com
Mac OS X:
Flash Cookie Storage Locations
You can always go to the directory where the cookies are stored and remove them manually. It's not a permanent solution - new cookies will get created in the future - but it works.
Windows:
LSO files are stored typically with a “.SOL” extension, within each user’s Application Data directory, under Macromedia\FlashPlayer\#SharedObjects.
Mac OS X:
For Web sites, ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/FlashPlayer. For AIR Applications, ~/Library/Preferences/[package name (ID)of your app] and ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/FlashPlayer/macromedia.com/Support/flashplayer/sys
GNU-Linux:
LSO files are stored in ~/.macromedia.
Wrap Up
Now you know about the mysterious and curiously difficult to remove Flash cookies. They are pervasive - even on government web sites - and won't be going away anytime soon.
Please post any follow-up questions or concerns below...
When Barack Obama famously refused to relinquish his treasured BlackBerry, he became the first president in American history to use email while in office. He will also be the first to have to worry about personal internet security.
The president's new BlackBerry is a special modified variation with top-notch encryption features—further details are not being shared with the media. Vice President Joe Biden and other key officials have also been given this most limited of limited edition devices.
But is it Really Hacker-Proof?
But famed hacker Kevin Mitnick says that despite its special security features, no BlackBerry is impossible to compromise. In an interview with Fox News, Mitnick said "It's a long shot, but it's possible. You'd probably need to be pretty sophisticated, but there's people out there who are."
According to Mitnick, who is credited with hacking Motorola, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, FBI, and Pentagon networks (among many others,) the best course of action for a hacker would probably be to infiltrate the personal computer of somebody close to Obama. Then, the hacker would have to use that person's identity to divert Obama to a compromised website that would upload malicious code onto the BlackBerry.
The Most Exclusive List in Washington
That's precisely why the president's security team is keeping his email address such a closely guarded secret. Obama will also have to frequently change his email address.
Who exactly has this address is unknown, but the number is believed to be considerably less than 50, with Biden, advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, press secretary Robert Gibbs, and chief of staff Rahm Emanuel almost certainly at the top of the list. Beyond that, one can only guess: top supporter Oprah Winfrey, secretary of state Hillary Clinton, celebrity email buddy Scarlet Johanson, DNC chair Tim Kaine? One can only speculate.
If any of our readers are on the list, please let us know so we can send him our suggestions on the economy...
Did that get your attention? Scammers are hoping it will.
Breaking News Malware Emails
An ongoing strategy of scammers is to send out spam emails with shocking or titillating subject lines. They've decided the recent nomination of Barack Obama is a perfect topic and Symantec has reported that emails are showing up that read something like this:
Sample Emails
Subject: Breaking news
Barack Obama refused to be the president of the United States of America
Yours Sincerely,
Cecily Lynn
Subject: What is going on with our country?
Yours faithfully,
Rodney Lynch
The link in the actual emails (we're not linking to anything in the examples above) point to the following site:
What is the Threat?
The site instantly attempts to bypass any browser security and install malware on your computer. If that fails, any link on the site will download and install malware software. The software is called W32.Waledac. Here's what it does, as described from the Symantec web site:
Rest assured that we detect this piece of malicious software under the name W32.Waledac. This particular piece of malware is capable, among other things, of:
- harvesting sensitive information on your computer
- turning your machine into a spam zombie
- establishing a back door on your computer that will allow it to be remotely accessed
How Can I Protect Myself?
Resist the Impulse to Click - scammers will try to provoke an emotional response in order to keep us from thinking about what we're doing. When you see an email like this, think for a moment if it's even reasonable. Ask why someone would send an email like this. What's the point?
Keep Your Software Up to Date - we've recently talked about keeping your Windows systems updated. The same goes for browsers, email clients, or anti-virus software. If you're software is up-to-date, you're more likely to avoid being hurt by scams like this.
By the way, Obama certainly didn't refuse to be president. I watched the inauguration myself and my thoughts and prayers are with him. Whatever your political affiliation or citizenship, we should all hope and work for his success.
Whether you're a business traveler touching base with the home office or a vacationer catching up on some last-minute Christmas shopping during holiday travel, airport wireless networks are a welcome distraction during a layover.
But beware...
According to a recent article in Forbes, anyone who logs on using an airport wireless connection is instantly exposed to data and identity theft.
How Bad Are They?
Forbes interviewed a so-called "white-hat hacker," working for AirTight Networks (which makes wireless security software and hardware,) and found that during AirTight's survey of 20 American airports, agents had identified serious security flaws in nearly every network. Some airports even allowed critical baggage handling and ticketing data to pass through their network unencrypted---a potential security risk in more than just the digital sense.
The purpose of the tests was to alert airports to the problem in the hopes that they would choose to hire AirTight as their security provider, but in the short term, let it stand as a warning to travelers: You are nowhere near as safe logging in at an airport hub as you are even at home. Even shopping malls and many universities provide more network protection to their users, and since there are currently no laws on the books that require airports to try any harder, don't expect any of this to change overnight.
Here's a quote from Forbes on how bad things are:They found rampant phony Wi-Fi hot spots created by phishers and, at several large airports, plenty of open or insecure networks run by critical operations such as baggage handling and ticketing. Almost all public networks allowed data such as user names and passwords to pass through the air unencrypted. Only 3% of people used something more secure.
How Do I Stay Safe?
Most security experts would recommend these four steps to relative safety on public wireless networks like those found in airports:
- Be sure that you're connected to a legit network. Phishers sometimes set up bogus hotspots in airports, waiting for unsuspecting travelers to log on.
- Use a firewall.
- Don't type in any credit card information or critical passwords while connected to these networks.
- Disconnect from the network when you're not using it.
These steps won't guarantee you 100 percent safety, but it's a good start if you decide that uploading those Christmas photos to Flickr can't wait until tomorrow.
This video from Forbes provides more details on what you should watch out for:
Thanks to our friends at Kroll Fraud Solutions, we have some excellent 2008 tax season tips for avoiding identity theft:
The U.S. economy may not be the only beneficiary of the recently passed federal economic stimulus package – identity thieves are getting a boost, too. Why? In the wake of the recent IRS announcement that more than 130 million Americans will receive tax rebates this year, identity thieves are using the promise of extra cash to lure Americans into disclosing their sensitive personal information.
These “phishing” schemes can take a variety of forms, the most common of which involves an identity thief who calls or e-mails a consumer pretending to be an IRS employee. The consumer is promised a sizable rebate if they file their taxes early. All the caller needs in exchange is the consumer’s bank account number to deposit the check.
The bad news is that schemes like the one described above are common; the good news is that falling victim to one is avoidable – as long as consumers get smart on the facts and follow the proper precautions.
Below ID theft expert Brian Lapidus, chief operating officer of Kroll’s Fraud Solutions, offers some important advice that every consumer should know about protecting their personal information during tax season. At Kroll, Lapidus oversees a highly-skilled team that includes veteran licensed investigators who meet regularly with IRS agents to stay apprised of emergent tax fraud issues – bolstering the team’s specialized work supporting breach victims and restoring individuals' compromised identities to pre-theft status.
Preparing your taxes?
- Beware of phishing schemes. The IRS never contacts consumers by e-mail or phone to request sensitive personal information (SSN, checking account information, etc.). If you receive a phone call or e-mail that you suspect may be a “phishing” scam, file a complaint with the Anti-Phishing Working Group and contact the IRS immediately.
- Avoid shopping mall kiosks or pop-up preparers who offer to assist you with tax preparation. Considering the amount of sensitive personal information involved in the tax preparation process, you probably don’t want to hand over your files to someone whose experience and background are unfamiliar to you. Ask a trusted friend to introduce you to his/her tax preparer or consult a local CPA association for trustworthy members.
Filing electronically?
- Avoid using wireless networks. Use of wireless networks means your data is being transmitted over open airwaves, similar to a radio transmission. If not properly secured, data can easily be picked up by an uninvited party.
- Don't prepare your taxes on a public computer. Public computers can contain “keylogger” spyware, which records every keystroke including passwords and account information. Keyloggers make it possible for an identity thief to steal any information entered into the computer during your session. Preparing your taxes on a public computer also increases your vulnerability to “shoulder surfers” – individuals who look over your shoulder to observe what you are doing and, more importantly, collect the sensitive data you’re entering.
- Only keep a record of your tax claims as long as necessary. Thieves can't steal what you don't have. Purge the data once the need for it has expired. Suggested guidelines for individual recordkeeping are available online through the IRS at: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p552/ar02.html#d0e617.
Filing by mail?
- Don't put your completed claim in an unlocked mailbox for pick-up. Instead, deposit outgoing mail at a post office.
- Take it one step further and opt for delivery tracking. That way you can be certain that your information has gotten to the IRS safely.
- Waiting for your tax rebate? Promptly remove mail from your mailbox after delivery. The longer your mail sits in an unsecured mailbox, the greater your chances of it falling into the wrong hands.
- You may also choose to have the IRS deposit your tax rebate directly into your bank account, further minimizing the risk of theft.
The BBC is reporting that 25 million Britains were exposed to the threat of identity theft when the HM Revenue & Customs (similar to the IRS in the U.S.) lost a CD containing personal data.
Ouch!
This has to be one of the worst data breaches ever, since the CD was not encrypted (just password protected) and the data included:
- Name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Bank account details
- National insurance number
In case you're not familiar with that last item, it's similar to the Social Security Number here in the U.S. What else could a potential thief want?
The CD with the data was sent to another HMRC location by a lower level employee via regular mail instead of using an encrypted network connection or some other secure method. The CD never showed up at the other office and officials are now trying to determine if it was stolen or just lost.
"The data lost - bank account numbers, names and addresses - represents a gold mine for the thieves and is much more valuable to them than credit card numbers or taxpayer id numbers," said Gartner analyst Avivah Litan.
"In fact, in the black market, bank account numbers sell for the highest price, or between $30 and $400 (£15 to £200), which is significantly more than the fifty cents to five dollars that criminals pay for credit cards."
This disaster has already forced the resignation of HMRC's chairman - Paul Gray. I'm guessing the employee involved was also "sacked," as the Brits like to put it. Let's hope so.
More coverage on the BBC site - Q&A: Child Benefit Records Lost | Analysis: How Worried Should You Be?
Recently, a new phishing e-mail has been circulating. The e-mail is the IRS asking for donations to help the victims of the California wildfires. The e-mail is a scam. The IRS is not and never will ask for donations, let alone send out an e-mail asking for financial and personal information.
The e-mail seems real enough. It provides links to an IRS website. The website asks for personal and financial information in order to obtain the donation. It seems like a good thing to do. However, do not enter any personal or financial information, the website is not the real IRS website. The information that is asked for is what the scammers use to steal identities, open new lines of credit and ruin peoples’ credit and lives. If that weren't enough, the links and the e-mail are also thought to contain “malware and other malicious software.”
To protect yourself and help stop the phishing scam the IRS
“urged those who received the scam e-mail to help the IRS shut down the operation by forwarding it to phishing@irs.gov, using instructions found in "how to protect yourself from suspicious e-mails or phishing schemes" on the genuine IRS Web site, http://www.irs.gov.”
On a happier note, the IRS is doing their part to help the wildfire victims. They are extending payment and tax return filing deadlines for victims.
“As California taxpayers start the recovery process, the last thing they should worry about is meeting a tax deadline,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Linda Stiff. “The IRS offers many resources for disaster victims online at IRS.gov, over the phone and in person.”
If you would like to donate to the victims there are several ways in which you can. The LA Times wrote an article with several suggestions of how to help the wildfire victims.
Read the AP's article for all the details of the e-mail scam.
Special Offers
Connect With Us
We invite you to become a fan of Fight Identity Theft or just join in the discussion.
Subscribe to Breaking News
Subscribe to Fight Identity Theft and receive top stories and breaking news via email.
Recent Blog Entries
Blog Archives
- November, 2009 (1)
- October, 2009 (6)
- September, 2009 (2)
- August, 2009 (3)
- April, 2009 (2)
- February, 2009 (3)
- January, 2009 (8)
- December, 2008 (8)
- March, 2008 (1)
- January, 2008 (1)
- December, 2007 (3)
- November, 2007 (2)
- October, 2007 (3)
- May, 2006 (1)
- March, 2006 (4)
- February, 2006 (4)
- January, 2006 (10)
- December, 2005 (7)
- July, 2005 (3)
- June, 2005 (4)
- May, 2005 (5)
- March, 2005 (1)
- Credit (12)
- Fraud (36)
- Government (20)
- Identity Theft (36)
- Junk Mail (5)
- Phishing (10)
- Privacy (18)
- Scam (29)
- Technology (47)
- Telemarketing (2)
- Viruses (10)
- Visitor Stories (1)
- Worms (10)
