Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Employee Arrested for Identity Theft

November 6th, James Allen Wilson, 44, a previous employee of the billing department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, was arrested for fraudulent activity.

He used the personal information of patients that he found in the hospital’s billing system and was able to fraudulently access some $70,000 by identity theft. He has pleaded guilty to numerous charges including felony, identity theft, insurance fraud and grand theft. He remains in custody until his court date, currently set for January 22nd.

Wilson had set up a fake laboratory company and used beneficiary’s information to submit claims for fictitious services, and received checks from the insurance companies at a post office box he had set up at an earlier time.

Cedars-Sinai is taking additional steps to protect the privacy of their patient’s information, and has made changes in their computer system that does not allow easy access.

In the meantime, those affected are encouraged to view their credit report and monitor their credit and medical accounts.

Those looking for identity theft protection may want to consider TrustedID as they are the only identity protection company that will examine your medical benefits statements to ensure that you are the only one who has used your medical benefits.

17,000 Katrina Evacuees Exposed to Identity Theft by FEMA

Katrina victims and evacuees have one more thing to worry about these days–identity theft.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported recently that personal information and private details of almost 17,000 evacuees was on-line and public on two web sites. It is unclear how long this data was accessible, but FEMA is definitely not taking this situation lightly.

Most of the affected individuals were those who lived in Louisiana at the time of the historic storm, and with many of them spread around the country, FEMA is unsure how to contact all those who may become victim to fraudulent use of their personal information.

FEMA is providing a year and a half’s worth of credit monitoring services, and will take any steps necessary to help with fraud resolution and identity theft protection.

After all these people went through it is unbearable to think that the agency responsible for this emergency may have exposed them to identity theft and that these people could have another tragedy to deal with. We highly advise those affected to place a fraud alert on their credit file or have an identity theft protection service do so on their behalf. This may stop the identity theft before it happens as opposed to being notified after the fact and having to clear your good name at that point.

In our opinion, FEMA should have provided both fraud alerts and credit monitoring from the beginning. These evacuees have dealt with more life altering circumstances than anyone should have to in a life time. Credit monitoring is only going to tell them that their credit file has been altered by an identity thief. They then have to repair the damage. Evacuees are still dealing with a ton of issues and probably don’t have the time to deal with such a situation.

A fraud alert may not prevent every identity theft attempt but it will prevent most. These 17,000 citizens should not have to pay for FEMA’s error. FEMA should have hired a fraud alert company to protect those affected as well.

Pepsi Bottling Group Misplaces a Portable Data Storage Device with Employee Information

On or around December 8th, the payroll department of The Pepsi Bottling Group misplaced a portable data storage device which included the information of some 200 employees.

Those who were affected were sent a letter from the company itself notifying them of the lost storage device. They also included information to take action with credit monitoring services and toll-free numbers where they can be reached to discuss any additional questions regarding the lost data. The extent of information exposed was not released at this time. Employees should still be vigilant in reviewing their credit reports and in protecting themselves from identity theft.

University of North Carolina School of the Arts Exposes 3,000 Past Students to Identity Theft

Almost 3,000 past students of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts are being notified of a possible security data breach involving their personal information. This information, which includes names and Social Security numbers, was made public when a computer server went online.

It is unknown if the information was or has been used for malicious fraudulent activity, but officials are taking the proper steps to notify those who may have been affected and to contact the credit reporting agencies and make them aware of the data breach.

The university takes their student’s data protection very seriously, and has taken steps with their IT department to ensure a similar situation does not happen in the future.

Even though the university is contacting the credit bureaus we strongly suggest you place a fraud alert on your account or have a credit protection service do this on your behalf.

Lorain County Community College Hacked

FBI are investigating the computer servers a Lorain County Community College after receiving information that a sophisticated hacker broke into the servers during the Thanksgiving holiday break.

On the computer servers were the records of some 22,000 students of the college, and also included the information of community users, employees, and the college library card system.

The Lorain County Community College notified all of those affected by letter, notifying them of how important it is to sign up for credit monitoring services and to receive a recent copy of their credit reports.

Investigators believe that the hacking of the servers was just for fun by hacking hobbyists, and they do not believe the information has been misused. As a precaution, they urge those possibly affected to be aware of their personal information and how it is being used.

RBS WorldPay Breach Exposes 1.5 Million Credit Cards

In November, RBS WorldPay, a payment processing center in Atlanta, Georgia, was recently victim to a security breach. It is known that their systems were accessed by an unknown third party, and over 1.5 million credit cards numbers are at risk. They handle gift card processing, ATM transactions, and other monetary services.

The information of their past customers and cardholders has been put at risk, and they are advising those who have used their services to watch their credit reports for fraudulent or suspicious activity.

It has already been reported that over 100 of the cardholder’s information was used fraudulently, so it is strongly advised to take the necessary precautions to protect their data and identity. Cardholders should strongly consider an identity theft protection service to protect themselves.

Investigators are looking into this situation to find the criminal, or criminals, responsible for this data breach.

New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services Data Breach

December 4th, the New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services mistakenly attached personal information on over 9,000 Medicare Part D recipients in an email to several health care organizations. This information included Social Security numbers of those signed up for Medicare benefits.

At this time, there is no sign of misuse, but the department is advising those who may have been affected to freeze their accounts and check their credit reports for fraud. A fraud alert or credit monitoring service are other options for consideration.

Victims of this data breach were notified mid-December of this discovery.

Stolen Backup Tape Exposes 10,000 Bill Dube Ford/Toyota Dealership Clients

Some 10,000 customers of the Bill Dube Ford/Toyota Dealership have been notified of a missing data backup tape that was stolen back around the beginning of August. While this information did not contain financial information, such as credit card numbers, it did include names, addresses, Social Security numbers and driver’s license data of New Hampshire and Massachusetts customers.

It is unknown why it took months for the customers to be notified of the data breach. There is an ongoing investigation on this theft situation. Due to the inclusion of Social Security numbers customers should consider credit protection as part of their identity protection strategy.

North Shore Medical Center Breach

A missing laptop from the Salem Hospital containing personal medical information of some 50 patients is being investigated by police and security at North Shore Medical Center.

It is thought that an employee is responsible for the theft of this laptop stolen from the cardiology department sometime since the end of November, and it was reported by hospital nursing staff last Thursday.

It is unknown if the information on this laptop was encrypted, as it was an older computer that was going to soon by replaced and phased out by the hospital.

Once the hospital is aware of the names that were stored on the laptop, they will quickly notify them of the situation and advise them on identity theft protection.

Economic Research Institute Data Breach

Those who were recipients of the Lake Placid-based Deo B. Colburn Foundation Scholarship for the 2003-2004 academic school year are now at risk for identity theft.

The Deo B. Colburn Foundation filed a 2002 tax return, form 990, which included the names and information of over 340 students who received money from this foundation. Their information included their names, addresses, academic institutions, amount of money received and their Social Security numbers.

The problem started when a past recipient of this scholarship, Lindsey Pashow, searched her name on Google and found the document publicly on the internet.

It is unknown how long the information was made publicly available, but there is talk that the document was available on the web since around 2005. While there is still speculation as to who was responsible for posting this information (the IRS or the foundation itself), the information has been removed and there is currently no evidence that the information has been used for the purpose of identity theft.

Still with information like Social Security numbers available to the public it would be prudent to use a credit report monitoring service or identity theft protection service

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