Medical Identity Theft Correspondence

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Safeguarding your finances… hijacking earlier. In one report, victims’ losses ✔ CHECK LIST FOR VICTIMS were a fraction of those who detected crime your health…your good name via paper statements. If you become a victim of identity Check Your Credit Score—Monitoring this theft you should do the following: important rating of your credit will often provide early detection of fraudulent activity, as well as provide the means to protect your ■✔ File a police report. accounts while you undertake further investigation. Federal law permits you one ■✔ Contact your credit union and free credit report per year from each of the cancel your credit cards. three major agencies. That means you can request one from each every 4 months. ■✔ Notify credit bureau fraud units. HOW TO OBTAIN A FREE CREDIT REPORT www.annualcreditreport.com ■✔ Place a fraud alert statement on (877) 322-8228 your credit report. Your credit union is taking substantive steps to protect your identity and make your financial ■✔ Request that credit bureaus transactions as safe and secure as they can identify accounts closed due to be. This includes organization-wide evaluation IDENTITY of security systems, employee security IDENTITYIDENTITY fraud as “closed at consumer’s training, and implementation of new online request.” security measures. To learn more about these important benefits, contact your credit union. ■✔ Request a free credit report at THEFTTHEFTTHEFT www.annualcreditreport.com.

■✔ Report check theft to check verification companies. TODAYTODAYTODAY ■✔ Check post office for unauthorized change of address requests. ➥ Account Hijacking ➥ Credit Card Fraud ■✔ Follow-up telephone contacts with letters and keep copies of all ➥ Medical Identity Theft correspondence. ➥ Early Detection Tips

© 2007 FINANCIAL EDUCATION CORPORATION DENTITY THEFT IN ITS MANY FORMS Don’t Get Phished—Don’t answer any What You Can Do CONTINUES TO BE A CONCERN…one suspicious emails. And always remember • Implement the computer security measures Ithat your credit union and financial regulators that your credit union will not ask you to noted with Account Hijacking. are addressing daily. Identity theft occurs “verify” any information through an email. If • Destroy credit card solicitations before when someone steals your personal information you get such an email, it’s a scam. throwing them away. “Dumpster-diving” is to establish credit or borrow money in your still one of the ways criminals get cards in name. It is important to remember, however, ➥CREDIT CARD FRAUD your name. that just as our defenses against identity theft Stolen credit card information is the most • Shred financial statements before become more sophisticated, so too the methods common transaction fraud. In its simplest discarding. criminals use to defraud consumers. Knowing form, it involves a criminal stealing your • Prepare a list of your credit card numbers the threat is the first line of defense, say the credit card information and running up and company contact information. experts. That means keeping abreast of the charges in your name. Alternatively, • Report lost or stolen cards immediately. frauds active in today’s environment…and fraudsters can steal personal information by knowing what you can do to protect yourself. phishing, spyware or other means, then open ➥IMPORTANCE OF EARLY DETECTION ➥ new credit card accounts in your name. Left ACCOUNT HIJACKING unchecked, it can spoil your credit record, Regardless of the type of identity theft Recent studies indicate that unauthorized access ruin your credit score, and make it difficult to involved, some simple preventive measures to checking and share draft accounts is the land a new mortgage or even a job! can save you time and trouble, and perhaps fastest growing form of identity theft, occurring ward off identity theft altogether. Regardless of the means, the result is that primarily through phishing and hacking. victims must spend extensive time and What You Can Do Hijacking by Phishing occurs when a person energy correcting the damage done by Monitor Your Accounts Regularly—People who provides personal information (social having credit charged illegally in their name. monitor their accounts online tend to detect security number, account numbers, etc.) in response to a fraudulent email, often a ruse to correct a “problem” with your account. ➥➥BEWARE OF A GROWING FRAUD... obtain medical services or goods. It can lead Hijacking by Spyware can occur when MEDICAL IDENTITY THEFT to an inaccurate diagnosis of a condition and malicious software (called malware) invades a could be fatal if the information causes a drug computer and collects personal information Medical identity theft is a growing fraud that interaction, allergic reaction or inappropriate for a criminal’s use. The computer owner is has substantial consequences on victims’ well- diagnoses. usually unaware it is occurring. being and can impact the victim financially. Victims of medical identity theft may What You Can Do: The Health What You Can Do experience the now-familiar consequences of Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), is a federal privacy act that protects Password—Make it unique, and hard for criminals financial identity theft, including patients from unauthorized access to to guess (e.g., do not use your street address). • loss of credit personal medical information and addresses Anti-Virus—Keep your computer’s anti-virus • harassment by debt collectors and the problem of errors in medical records. software up-to-date. New viruses are being • inability to find employment or get credit. Learn more at created every day. www.hhs.gov Medical identity theft occurs when someone Anti-Spyware—Software to detect and remove uses a person’s name and other personal www.webmd.com spyware is readily available and should be on information—such as insurance information—to www.privacyrights.org all computers. Safeguarding your finances… hijacking earlier. In one report, victims’ losses ✔ CHECK LIST FOR VICTIMS were a fraction of those who detected crime your health…your good name via paper statements. If you become a victim of identity Check Your Credit Score—Monitoring this theft you should do the following: important rating of your credit will often provide early detection of fraudulent activity, as well as provide the means to protect your ■✔ File a police report. accounts while you undertake further investigation. Federal law permits you one ■✔ Contact your credit union and free credit report per year from each of the cancel your credit cards. three major agencies. That means you can request one from each every 4 months. ■✔ Notify credit bureau fraud units. HOW TO OBTAIN A FREE CREDIT REPORT www.annualcreditreport.com ■✔ Place a fraud alert statement on (877) 322-8228 your credit report. Your credit union is taking substantive steps to protect your identity and make your financial ■✔ Request that credit bureaus transactions as safe and secure as they can identify accounts closed due to be. This includes organization-wide evaluation IDENTITY of security systems, employee security IDENTITYIDENTITY fraud as “closed at consumer’s training, and implementation of new online request.” security measures. To learn more about these important benefits, contact your credit union. ■✔ Request a free credit report at THEFTTHEFTTHEFT www.annualcreditreport.com.