Don’t let scams and identity theft ruin your honeymoon
(ARA) – The excitement of getting married doesn’t end after the rice has been thrown, the cake has been cut and the presents opened. For most couples, the next stop is the adventure of a honeymoon.

Read more on Lexington Clipper-Herald

It all started with credit cards.

Remembering your PIN number in the check-out line was that industry’s Hail Mary Pass to cut losses from fraudulent purchases back in the mid-80s. Fingerprint and retinal scans were developed by the FBI about the same time to keep us out of secure areas and to keep our prying eyes off top-secret documents.

Now, fast forward about 20 or so years. Throw in a dismal economy, mix in thousands of suddenly uninsured Americans and you’ve got the makings of an apparently unforeseen black hole of security that could threaten the future of affordable healthcare and the efforts of Congress to reform it.

A woman in New York City faces up to seven years in prison on charges she recently forged more than 50 insurance claims that submitted them to her health insurance company for reimbursement. Meanwhile in Miami, a medical clinic for senior patients was raided after investigators discovered a front desk clerk sharing 1,100 Medicare IDs and patient information with her family members. One of her cousins allegedly made off with $2.8 million in fraudulent refunds for services never rendered.

“As more people are not getting the health care they need, we’re seeing an increasing incidence of medical identity fraud,” tells Michigan-based attorney Norbert Kugele to the New York Times. “Someone will show up at a hospital with someone else’s insurance information and will seek treatment under their name.”

Pulling a Fast One

It’s almost like the industry never saw it coming. Of course, Medicare fraud has been going on for years and the Feds have been battling it with great intensity, by their own admission, with mixed success. But security experts warn high profile health insurance fraud cases are only going to grow and there may be no end to creative tactics the perpetrators may use to bilk an already handicapped health system.

President Obama claims the healthcare reform bill being considered by Congress will provide a safety net to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining health care under the “Public Option.” Just how this will happen is anybody’s guess. Many citizens who relocated to America without proper documentation have been receiving public benefits and/or employment opportunities for years without much scrutiny by business owners or infiltration by state and local governments — so much so that the Feds figure in fraud when making all kinds of budgetary projections to Congress.

Medical identity theft occurs when criminals obtain information such as a health insurance identification or Social Security number and use it to get health care or to obtain reimbursement from insurers and others for false claims. That means your medical history and health care records can include someone else’s information.

Aside from the obvious health concerns that go along with adopting someone else’s health profile, — imagine an ID thief at the doctor’s office, presenting a health insurance ID from a patient who, unbeknownst to the thief, is diabetic, allergic to certain medication or receiving chemotherapy — there are other huge expenses that could undercut any savings that the Obama administration projects would be saved by reform in its current form.

“Hospitals and insurance companies face enormous expenses when it comes to medical identity theft, as they are forced to write-off charges incurred by the thieves,” recently wrote Bankrate reporter Amy Crane. “But its victims find that the financial aspects of this type of identity theft are the easiest to deal with.”

What You Can Do

-  Your insurance card, your life. Security experts think we too often assume that our insurance card is no more valuable than our frequent shopper card or our gym membership. Protect your insurance information as you would your credit card, driver license or other personal asset.

 -  Give your medical records a check-up. Audit your health insurance and medical records annually, as you would your personal credit report. It’s not only o.k. to ask your doctor for your medical records, it’s protected under federal law to do so. If you see anything that look suspicious, call your insurance company right away.

 -  Go paperless. Not only is it environmentally friendly, opting into paperless health insurance benefit and billing statements is a good way to prevent your personal health information from slipping into the wrong hands.

Ameriloan—it sounds kind of patriotic, doesn’t it? Well, if you look around, you might think that the most patriotic thing to do these days is be in lots and lots of debt. Face it—during the good financial times, most of you racked up a bunch of debt that you are having trouble paying back in these lean times. Sometimes, no matter how carefully you budget, the money just can’t stretch to cover every thing. When an emergency comes along, you need to get a loan online. One of the companies a lot of people turn to its Ameriloan Payday Loans.

There is some good advice included on their website that can be very handy. The first is to never email anyone your social security number. A bad guy with that little piece of information can cause you a lot of trouble. You have all heard about identity theft—that piece of information is one of the keys to it. While on the subject, never tell anyone who doesn’t have a really good reason to know it. The people at Ameriloan, or any online payday site, have no need to know it, but if a site insists on it—beware. They are not the kind of site to be dealing with.

Another very good piece of advice also goes with any payday loan site. Always know before you borrow any money, what the fee is to borrow that money. That fee is the amount you are being charged to borrow the money. That fee is most likely what you will be charged if you have to rollover your loan for another time period. So, knowing that number is very, very important.

Keeping all of your loan information in one place where it is easily accessible to you is also good advice. That way, any questions you may have about time frames or fees regarding the loan will most likely be right there for you.

There are other handy links on the Ameriloan home page that might be of interest. There are links to other financial services such as mobile home financing with information available for resources online; RV loans, homeowner loans, unsecured loans, home equity and refinancing with current quotes and a rate table and calculator, a free credit report and links to debt settlement. That’s a lot of valuable information just for the reading.

Reading, by the way, is something you should do with every aspect of your loan agreement. Really read it to understand it, not just a cursory scan and a few “uh-huh, uh-huhs”. No matter how pressing the emergency may be that requires the payday loan, read it, know it. Be smart.

The very last piece of advice is to pay back your loan as quickly as possible. If you can pay it back earlier than its due date, some lenders will give you a break on the fees. Even if they don’t, it demonstrates to them that you are a good risk, and who knows when that might come in handy again.

Many people could not wait once the Internet into the wonderful world go wow, quickly landing the open interface. How can I do not know at this time there may be abhorrent process is monitoring the account password you enter, perhaps several months of effort on the sudden annihilation of the fly ash. But as long as usual to spend 1-2 minutes to me that these two points, you can make your account reduce the risk of theft of more than 80 percent. 1. Account, the password wrong input method Because the procedures are now in the theft of surveillance, record players keyboard input, so attention to the import of the account, first take a look at him with no suspicious items or eyes, and then quickly chaotic sequence entering an account number, what is indiscriminate importation of sequence, that is, If your account is wowgold you first enter old, and then use the mouse positioning respectively enter wowg, which account wowgold input. And then use the mouse to point the password field, do not use tab key jump, is also ibid. Chaotic sequence input. So even if your machine is monitoring the importation of the procedure, it can not get your ID and password enter the correct sequence. 2.nip in the bud, the official line-by-mail to retrieve password function for retrieve password, and you can receive in the mail to wow your e-mail system, to amend your password above the link to this , You do not use that link, save the message. If the account were stolen, it can quickly to your E-mail a link to use this (link the expiration date has not yet been determined, we can try to test) I do believe that as long as the above two points, account numbers were stolen will likely be much smaller, of course, the most thorough approach also fitted with a comprehensive network firewall (not the virus firewall, personal recommend the use of the virus Kaspersky 2006 + network firewall, But the system has more resources occupied, even if the hardware poor the point), each one week to update your password, etc plus: Of course, if we do not have to exchange cards gold coins, the world’s comrades also theft and even less.

Businesses called to step up role in ID theft protection
In the past year, confidential client data has been stolen or illegally accessed at several Santa Cruz County businesses and health care provider offices, highlighting the need for businesses to play a heightened role in protecting data, according to data security specialists and local law enforcement officers.

Read more on Santa Cruz Sentinel

Okay so you’re feeling smug and savvy because you know all about Fraud Alerts. Despite the fact you accomplished it for free and only had to actually contact one of the major credit reporting agencies you want everyone to know who to call. You tell them the following places need to be called to put a Fraud Alert on your credit report; Equifax at number 1-800-525-6285, Experian at their number 1-888-397-3742 and the final place, TransUnion at number 1-800-680-7289. You further explain that these initial 90 day fraud alerts entitle them to free copies of their credit reports. All your friends should be sure to check those credit reports for debts on their accounts that are unexplainable, company inquiries from businesses they haven’t actually contacted and/or accounts they haven’t actually opened. That’s good proactive initiative.

Did you happen to mention that fraud alerts aren’t actually the solution to every possible means of identity theft? Did you know that a Fraud Alert does nothing to detour an identity thief from opening new credit accounts in someone else’s name that don’t require a credit check? You know, things like a wireless telephone account, wall mounted phone or even a bank account! Are you beginning to realize that too little information can be dangerous? Additionally, an ID Thief can still use someone’s existing credit cards or other accounts. Not only that, if there is an identity crime already happening when a fraud alert is placed, this alert alone does nothing to stop the crime. You can however take solace in the fact that you were partially correct as fraud alerts are in fact useful in thwarting the thief in opening a new line of credit.

The initial fraud alert stays on a credit report for only 90 days and if someone remembers, they have to renew this alert every three months. It is good to place this type of alert on one’s credit if they suspect they are (or are about to be) a victim of identity theft. These alerts are a good course of action should one say, realize they are a victim of a “Phishing” scam or their wallet or purse has been stolen. This is basically an alert to creditors while considering someone for credit for the business to enforce reasonably policies that implement procedures that require identity verification prior to issuing credit in a person’s name. Businesses may make an effort to verify however, their reports aren’t always a guarantee that applicant sitting before them is who they say they are.

A person has the option as well to place an extended fraud alert of their credit report that actually remains in place for a period of seven years. This can be done if you are a victim of identity theft. You must however supply the consumer reporting agency an identity theft report. The report procedure is the subject of another article as it is a lengthy process. Anyway, this extended alert requires potential or pending creditors to actually contact you or, meet with you face-to-face before they actually approve the credit request. Yes, this can cause delays when you are trying to get credit but to enhance the processing requirements one can simply provide a current and viable cell phone number to be reached at easily in their efforts to have their identity verified.

When a person undertakes the initiation of an extended fraud alert, they are entitled to two free credit reports annually from each of the three national consumer credit reporting agencies. These companies will at the same time remove a person’s name from pre-screened credit offers that marketing lists maintain. The credit reporting agencies will make sure a name stays off marketing lists for a period not less than five years unless, a person specifically requests to be put back onto marketing offer listings.

I’d just like to say initial or extended fraud alerts are great measures in anyone’s effort to wage war against the identity thief but, are just the tip of an iceberg when it comes to efforts needed to combat this ever increasing crime. Don’t get over confident with too little information. Consider looking into the professional services of a credit watch service. A credit watch service has the whole picture of what it takes to catch a thief and protect your good name and/or credit. Some are better than others so do what the Federal Trade Commission recommends on all contracts for a service or product: read the small print. If you’d like to enlist a highly proficient credit watch service used and trusted by the author check out his resource bio following this article. This service offers more then all others and stands behind their professionalism with a million dollar per individual guarantee.

Identity theft is one of the most damaging things that can happen to a person in their life. By having your identity stolen, you credit can become ruined costing you hundreds to even thousands of dollars. Credit agencies can help detect identity theft by using a consumer’s credit report to help detect identity theft and other fraud related crimes.

What types of crimes can these criminals engage in when they steal your identity? They try to get loans, credit, or other services without your permission and in your name.

Consumer credit reporting agencies fight identity theft by using your consumer credit report to help detect the theft of your identity and stop the felons from ruining your good credit history.

The credit reference agencies use a proactive method for monitoring your credit by using fraud resolution professionals who are dedicated in the safeguarding of your credit. They are constantly on the lookout for alerts to any unauthorized use of your private social security number and credit card for any suspicious and strange purchase history by scanning the internet 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Credit reporting agencies provide daily credit monitoring and will contact you immediately if there is any suspicious activity on your consumer credit report that may indicate that you have been a victim of identity theft. They can do this by also looking for changes in your home address or your public records. They can also look to see if you have had any new accounts opened in your name by looking at your consumer credit report, or they can see if you have applied for new credit accounts.

From 2007 to 2008, the Federal Trade Commission reported that there was a 21% increase in the amount of identity theft reported. Many ways people steal your identity is by sifting through your trash that may contain private and personal documents related to your personal information such as credit card bills, phone bills, and other utility statements. People have even been known to go through computer files that have been recklessly disposed of without being cleaned and left at public dump sites.

The credit reference agencies are constantly on guard when it comes to protecting your personal and private information from the prowling eyes of criminals intent on stealing your identity for their own personal benefit. They do this by using your personal consumer credit report that will allow them to constantly monitor your buying and account habits.

Identity theft protection is almost a necessity these days as identity thieves are coming up with more cunning and technologically advanced ways of hacking into your personal information, whether through your credit reports, credit cards and even your medical records or DMV files. We need to be more vigilant than ever.

At identity lookout we are not a one shoe fits all service, each individual has different needs when it comes to identity theft protection. Only 13% of identity theft cases are ever reported on a users credit report. So when you’re thinking about identity protection, a large part of it happens outside of your Social Security number. What we have done is put together an identity theft protection plan that is based on your needs as an individual rather than the needs of all, that protects both your credit report and all of your non-credit related pieces of your life that need protection both online and off-line.

Click Here To Get Identity Theft Protection Today!

We will match you with a plan that’s right for you, we won’t give you what you don’t need and you won’t pay for what you don’t need. And finally, you and your family will have the peace of mind and comfort of knowing that you have the proper identity theft protection plan in place. You can finally take comfort knowing that you and your family are protected.

Protecting your identity is easy and only takes minutes you will be backed by our $1 million guarantee, given a credit health status report and be included in our 30 day free trial.

How much of the current crime rate do you think is attributable to letting Mexico have free access to our financial system etc? Do they have any laws in Mexico that they feel like following?

i got an email saying to supply my personal info and it looks suspicious. who whould or what should i send it to/ do with it?