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Victim Recovery Tips for Medical Identity Theft and Fraud

Follow these useful tips if you’ve been a victim of medical identity theft and/or fraud.

Medical Identity Fraud is Serious – Don’t Ignore the Signs and Begin Remediation Immediately.
Medical ID fraud can pose serious risks to your health if you receive the wrong type of healthcare due to an identity thief corrupting your medical records. Medical ID fraud is also one of the most difficult and costly identity crimes to resolve. The sooner you begin your remediation process, the better chances you can limit the damages.

Click here to learn recovery tips from MIFA.

Tips for Consumers to Reduce Medical Identity Theft and Fraud

Help protect yourself against this costly and potentially life-threatening type of identity fraud.

What are Medical Identity Theft and Medical Identity Fraud?
Both terms refer to crimes that involve the theft of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from another individual. In the case of medical identity theft, this also includes Protected Health Information (PHI) – such as name, date of birth, social security number, health plan number and medical records. Fraud indicates the stolen PII or PHI was used for personal gain by another individual. In the case of medical identity fraud, such gain can be realized both from the sale of PHI to others and from the use of PHI to obtain medical goods and services. Perpetrators commit this crime to obtain unauthorized insurance benefits, prescription drugs, medical services, employment, government benefits or other financial gain.

Click here to learn prevention tips from MIFA.

Federal Trade Commission Medical Identity Theft Consumer Information

Click here to learn how to:

  • Detect Medical Identity Theft
  • Correct Mistakes in Your Medical Records
  • Protect Your Medical Information
  • Check for Other Identity Theft Problems

Are you an identity theft victim? The FTC’s updated IdentityTheft.gov website is the federal government’s free, one-stop resource to help people fix problems caused by identity theft. The site makes it easier to report identity theft and recover from it. Features on the site allow victims to:

  • Get a personal recovery plan that walks them through each step
  • Update their personal plan and track their progress
  • Print pre-filled letters & forms to send to credit bureaus, businesses, and debt collectors

The entire site is available in Spanish at RobodeIdentidad.gov.

Six tips for protecting yourself against medical identity theft

Medical identity theft happens when someone steals your personal or health insurance information. They use it to get medical care, prescriptions, insurance payouts, even surgery. It’s a lot like regular identify theft. It can damage your credit rating, cost you money and take time to clear up. Being a victim can even hurt your chances to get some jobs.

Click here to learn tips from MIFA Founding Member Aetna.

Top 10 Medical Identity Fraud Protection Tips

The accelerating pace of healthcare data breaches and the long-term impacts of becoming a fraud victim mean consumers must become their own first line of defense against medical identity theft, America’s fastest-growing identity crime. ID Experts, which works with both consumers and organizations to mitigate the impacts of data breaches, offers 10 tips for protecting against medical identity fraud.

Click here to learn tips from MIFA Founding Member ID Experts.

Avoiding Medical Identity Theft

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) provides tips for preventing and detecting medical identity theft, how to respond to a medical identity theft incident and a medical identity theft response checklist.

Click here for details.

First Aid for Medical Identity Theft: Tips for Consumers

The California Attorney General’s Office has provided an information sheet for consumers that provides tips on what to do in response to the various signs of possible medical identity theft.

Click here to download the brochure.

Florida Identity Theft Consumer Resource Guide

Click here to download the resource guide available from Florida’s Attorney General’s office.

AARP Medical Identity Theft Fact Sheet

Click here to see all AARP Health Care Fraud Fact Sheets.

Consumer Federation of America ID Theft Info

Click here for consumer and victim information.

Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medical ID Theft/Fraud Information

Medical identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal information (like your name, Social Security number, or Medicare number) to obtain medical care, buy drugs, or submit fake billings to Medicare in your name. Medical identity theft can disrupt your life, damage your credit rating, and waste taxpayer dollars. The damage can be life-threatening to you if wrong information ends up in your personal medical records.

Click here to learn more or read the OIG’s Medical Identity Theft brochure.
Contact HHS’s Office of Inspector General Hotline.

Medical ID theft – Stay safe. Be Informed.

Fraud.org provides useful information to learn about medical ID theft and ways to protect yourself.

Click here to learn more.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: “More Than a Number” Identity Protection Program

“More Than a Number” is the VA’s new campaign to educate Veterans about identity theft prevention. The campaign references personally identifiable information (PII) that VA encourages Veterans to protect.

Toll-free Identity Theft Help Line number 1-855-578-5492, for one-on-one victim assistance. The Help Line is open Monday through Friday, 8:00AM-8:00AM, Eastern Time, with voicemail available for after-hours calls. TTY and bilingual assistance are also available.

Click here for identity theft resources for Veterans and their beneficiaries, including educational information and interactive multimedia, as well as links to other online identity theft prevention resources.

Click here to read FAQs, learn more about the “More Than a Number” program and how to report an ID theft incident to the VA.

World Privacy Forum Medical Identity Theft Information

The World Privacy Forum is the leading expert on medical ID theft. We published the first major report about medical identity theft in 2006 and brought this crime to the attention of the public for the first time. We maintain up-to-date information and tips for victims, as well as conduct and publish new research.

Click here to learn more and join the community of anti-fraud activists.

FraudAvengers

FraudAvengers was founded by the Foundation for Payments Fraud Abatement & Activism (FPF2A), a not-for-profit group of financial fraud prevention professionals. FPF2A created FraudAvengers.org to add “fraud prevention” to the public’s understanding of “financial literacy”; to empower individuals to protect themselves and the ones they care about from financial abuse; and to impede criminals who seek to benefit from payments fraud. FraudAvengers is a community of like-minded fraud activists, including benefactors, sponsors, guest bloggers, link partners and concerned individuals, which was created to:

  • Help consumers recognize their personal responsibility for protecting their financial information
  • Educate individuals about the latest fraud scams and what they can do to protect themselves
  • Offer a place to post questions and discuss ideas and concerns about payments fraud
  • Provide links to other resources for fraud victims to obtain additional assistance
  • Inspire individuals to become active in a national “anti-fraud” movement

Click here to learn more and join the community of anti-fraud activists.