ID Theft Upgraded: Watching Out For New Threats

We’ve talked quite a bit about identity theft here on the AMW Safety Center, but it’s important to keep on guard because thieves are always working at coming up with new and innovative ways to separate you from your money. One of the latest types of these crimes is Synthetic Identity Theft, where criminals take individual elements–a name, a birthdate, a social security number, each from a different person–in order to create a synthetic identity. This type of ID theft can sometimes be more difficult to trace because it may take a while for any one of those individuals to take notice.

There is another rising type of ID theft that could be  dangerous to your health, and could even kill you. Medical Identity Theft occurs when your personal information is used to to obtain prescription drugs from a pharmacy or hospital. This type of ID theft is very dangerous, because in an accident or emergency station, a medic will look at your medical history. If a criminal has been prescribed a drug you are allergic to–in your name–you could be administered that drug with fatal results.

The Identity Theft Action Council of Nebraska offers up some important measures that you should take if you find you are a victim of these crimes, or any other type of ID theft:

• Report the crime to the police. It is important to have a police report when following up on any criminal action.
• Always check your credit reports to see how much damage has been done to your accounts.
• Place a fraud alert on your accounts. Fraud alerts, or security freezes, are one of the few tools consumers have available that can lock down your credit report so that no one can pull or view any of your information without authorization. This will prevent any further accounts from being opened in your name.

For more information, check out the FTC’s materials on ID Theft, or the nonprofit ID Theft Resource Center.