The transition to electronic medical records is now in full swing but they may be overlooking potential risks to patient’s safety.  The idea of using computerized medical records was sold as being a powerful tool to improve a patient’s safety in many different ways.  One way was by alerting the physician automatically if they were going to prescribe a medication the patient was allergic to.  Unfortunately these benefits should not be taken for granted because there are also identity theft risks that go along with these benefits.

If these computerized medical records are not designed and applied appropriately, it can lead to adverse consequences.  Some of the complications can range from quirky systems, medication dosing errors can happen if the technology does not communicate with a rival company’s version, computer crashes, delays in needed treatment, or overlooking signs of a fatal illness.  Due to medical errors in hospitals, there are an estimated forty-four thousand to ninety-eight thousand patient deaths a year.

Yes, hospitals have improved safety by going electronic but there is not much evidence that such improvements are being made on the heath care system as a whole.  President Obama’s administration wants most of the doctors and hospitals to switch to computerized records by the year 2015.  For the purchase of the new systems that will be needed, they are investing as much as twenty-seven billion dollars over ten years as incentive payments for them to do so.

The unemployment rate is high in every state in the United States and there are not many places hiring so when a person is offered a job they know that if they do not take it someone else will.  Scammers and identity thieves also know this so use this to their advantage in order to steal their personal information and their identity.  And it is not only the unemployed that can become a victim of a scammer or identity theft, the employed also can.

One way that an employed person can become a victim of identity theft is if a person who has access to personnel information gets fired and then in retaliation they steal personal information.  They may not do anything with it or they might sell the information to criminals who in turn resell it to illegal aliens.  They may even use it to apply for government benefits.  It is also not unusual for a scammer to put in an ad for a job that does not exist in hopes of enticing the unemployed to apply for the job and be able to obtain their personal information for the fake application.

There are identity theft protection ways that you can protect yourself from these types of scams whether you are unemployed or employed.  Here are some of the ways you can protect yourself.
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There are still many people that take papers with their personal information and just toss them into the trash.  By doing this, they just want to have their personal identity stolen.  Identity theft is just on the rise, and dumpster diving is one of the old fashion ways to steal a person’s personal information.

A paper shredder is not that expensive and is a worthwhile investment for any home or business.  Here is a list of papers that should be shredded and not just thrown in the trash.

• Old Tax Returns–you should save your tax returns for at least three years but after that time, it is safe to destroy them.  When you keep them, they should be kept in a firebox.  What an identity theft is looking for is not just your name and address but your Social Security numbers.  This includes your dependent’s numbers also.
• Bank Statements–any papers with your bank account numbers should be shredded.  If you do not need to receive bank statements, opt for online bank statements via email.
• Credit Card Offers–if you are not going to take the bank or credit card company up on their offer, shred them right away.  People do not like to think about it but identity theft does happen within family members.  Some family member could fill these out and open an account in your name.
• Old Photo ID’s–this includes any old security badges from previous workplaces or school ID’s.  A photo ID is not enough to steal your information by itself but it does contain personal information.  It could be used as part of a bigger identity theft scheme in order to bypass some fraud prevention measures.
• Pay Stubs–many people may not realize it but that pay stub is loaded with personal information that could be used by a skilled identity theft.  It has your name and many times your Social Security number. If you use direct deposit, it will also have the name of your bank and maybe part of your account number.
• Credit Card Convenience Checks–some credit card companies will send their cardholders these types of checks.  They can be used to borrow against the line of credit that you have for quick cash.  If you do not plan to use them, shred them immediately.
• Canceled Checks–even if you write void on a canceled check still has personal information on there.  There are your routing and account numbers on the bottom of the check.  Some people make sure that their checks have their name, address, and phone number on it.  Some will even have their phone number and Social Security number printed on the check.  In the info line, you may have even put an account number there and whom the number belongs too.
• Canceled Credit Cards–this includes any cards that you no longer plan on using.  Even the one that may have had the number stolen should be destroyed.  If you cannot put it through your shredder, cut through the magnetic strip, cut into four pieces, and put the pieces in different trash bags so they cannot be pieced back together and this is always a good credit protection practice.

In conclusion, if anything you are about to toss in the trash has any personal information on it, and then it should be shredded.  You do not want to become a victim of identity theft.

This type of scam can take on my variations.  It could be someone is offering to pay you for a service or to buy an item that you advertised for sale.  There may even be an offer that promises an “advance” on some sweepstakes that you have supposed to have won, or to pay for the first installment on the millions of dollars you are going to receive for agreeing to have money from a foreign country transferred into your bank account for safekeeping.

In most instances of fake check scams the one doing the scam will request that you to send money back to them in some way.  What they will do is send you a check for goods or services for more than the amount that is requested.  They will tell you to go ahead and deposit their check and then you are to wire them back the additional money.

In some instances, the scammer will ask you to wire them money for processing, legal fees, taxes, shipping, or any number of other expenses that you are going to have to pay before you will receive your reward or money.  The checks that the scammers will send you will feel and look real no matter if they are a cashier’s check or a personal check.  These checks have even been known to fool a bank teller.  These checks could have been written fraudulently or may be from a legitimate corporation or business.

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This type of scam is when someone calls you claiming that they are from your credit card company and asks you to confirm personal information.  This could be anything from your credit card number, the security code from the back of the card, or even your mother’s name.  If you give the caller any of this information after the call is over the caller will take the information and start making charges on your account.  This identity theft may even create a new account in your name.  Sometime these identity thieves or scammers will even leave a number on your answering machine or in an email to get you to call them.

If you should get a phone call of this type make sure that you do not give out any information even if they sound legitimate for the simple reason is that you did not initiate the call.  Some of these scammers are so smart that they can even have your credit card company’s number show up on the caller ID by spoofing your caller ID.  Only trust calls that you make by using the number on the billing statement or on the back of your credit card.  If you get any numbers in an email or left on your answering machine that you do not know do not call them back and give them any personal information.

Call your credit card company immediately if you mistakenly give out your personal information.  The credit card company may give you a new credit card number or even a new credit card and deactivate the old one to prevent fraudulent charges from being made on your account.
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