For anyone victimized by identity theft it’s a major and memorable crime that leaves them stunned and unbalanced. Here are some of the biggest identity theft cases in history. A few surprised even the experts.
From the FBI Archives:
A great article in the Journal of Accountancy highlights the prevalence of tax ID theft. A surprising percentage of CPAs have clients who have been a victim of this crime.
Read the JofA article here:
Majority of CPAs polled had clients victimized by tax ID theft this year
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| 1. Change in legal marital status, including marriage, death of a spouse, divorce, legal separation and annulment. |
| 2. A change in the number of dependents, including birth, death, adoption, and placement for adoption. |
| 3. A change in employment status of the employee, or the employee’s or retiree’s spouse or dependent, including termination or commencement of employment, a strike or lockout, a commencement of or return from an unpaid leave of absence, a change in worksite, and a change in working conditions (including changing between part-time and full-time or hourly and salary) of the employee, the employee’s or retiree’s spouse or dependent which results in a change in benefits they receive under a cafeteria plan or health or dental plan.* |
| 4. A dependent ceasing to satisfy eligibility requirements for coverage due to attainment of age, student status, marital status, or other similar circumstances.* |
| 5. A change in place of residence of the employee, retiree or their spouse or dependent and the current carrier is not available. |
| 6. Significant cost or coverage changes (including coverage curtailment and the addition of a benefit package). |
| 7. Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave. |
| 8. Judgments, decrees or orders. |
| 9. A change in coverage of a spouse or dependent under another employer’s plan. |
| 10. Open enrollment under the plan of another employer. |
| 11. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) special enrollment rights for new dependents and in the case of loss of other insurance coverage. |
| 12. A COBRA-qualifying event. |
| 13. Loss of coverage under the group health plan of a governmental or educational institution (a state’s children’s health insurance program, medical care program of an Indian tribal government, state health benefits risk pool, or foreign government group health plan). |
| 14. Entitlement to Medicare or Medicaid. |
| 15. Any other situations in which the group health or dental plan is required by the applicable federal or state law to allow a change in coverage. |
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, a full-service hospital in Southern California was hacked last week. The cyber attack resulted in the hospital declaring an “internal emergency” and transferring some of it’s patients to other medical facilities to receive care.
This was a deliberate and planned attack against the hospital that targeted patient files and locked them, causing the hospital to be unable to access information necessary for the care of their patients. Despite working with the FBI the Los Angeles Police Department and cyber-forensics experts to identify the perpetrators and decrypt the files, Hollywood Presbyterian was forced to pay the scammers a ransom for the encryption key to unlock the files.
Ransomware is the suspected culprit. This type of malware self-installs once downloaded, usually without the user being aware, and enrypts system files. It then allows the sender to hold the encrypted files for “ransom” until the end-user pays a fee for the encryption key.
The probability of such attacks can be decreased with proper security protocols and training for staff.