Inside Identity Theft Job at Johns Hopkins Hospital

You hear about identity theft from online purchases, credit card number skimming, and stolen mail, but rarely do you hear of medical identity theft.

Turns out, someone–namely Shanell Bowser of Baltimore City–was arrested for stealing credit card information of patients at John Hopkins Hospital.

The discovery was made when a past patient of a kidney transplant received mail at her home congratulating her for her new house. Strange thing was, this couple had not purchased a new home.

After some research done on their own, they encountered other hospital patients that had experienced the same sort of situations happening to them. A phone call to the police department gave way to the arrest of Bowser.

It is unknown how many patients were affected, as the numbers could be in the thousands, and the investigation has not yet uncovered how the information was obtained. It is believed to be an inside employee action.

If you or someone you know was previously hospitalized at John Hopkins Hospital, it is best to notify them of this security breach. Since information has been misused already, the data that was accessed is at high risk for identity theft use. Due to the potential of medical identity theft we would suggest you look at TrustedID as well as other identity theft protection services.