Mail Interception

Keep a very close eye on your mail and make sure you have received every bill, statement and invoice you are expecting each month.  If anything goes astray chase it up from the provider, and whilst you are on the phone double check that no one has tried to change the address on your account recently – identity thieves can often use those tear off address change strips on the bottom of bills and statements in order to redirect all of your account correspondence to them in the future.  If you lived in shared accommodation where the mail is delivered to a central place you will need to extra vigilant with your post as it is more vulnerable to being tampered with, and if you are expecting any important mail such as new credit cards or checkbooks, it might be best to have these delivered in your local branch and them pick them up in person.

Telephone and Junk Mail Scams

Be cautious when receiving unsolicited requests for information – id theft protection system – either by telephone or mail, as these can often be scams that are designed to trick you into revealing sensitive personal data to thieves and fraudsters.  Banks and other financial providers would never contact you and ask you to confirm your account details over the phone as this is not a secure policy, so be very wary of any requests like this and double check the authenticity of the caller before giving out these sorts of details.

Email Scams

Email scams are prevalent simply because this is a very cheap medium through which thieves can contact thousands of people easily all around the world, and there are some very convincingly scam emails around that either try and trick you into replying with personal information (such as pretending to be from your bank or credit card provider) or they try and trick you into logging onto a fake website through a link in the email that may be loaded with malware.

Types of Health Insurance Identity Fraud
When you need treatment or healthcare equipment you will need to in most cases to provide you Medicare or private insurance details to cover any payments costs.  However once you have handed over your details they could be used fraudulently for a number of unlawful activities such as:
•    Equipment Fraud – Manufacturers have been known to offer products to clients claiming them to be ‘free’, and then using the patient’s details to charge for them on the health insurance. Also equipment could be charged using the victim’s details that wasn’t actually received by them, or was returned unused.
•    Lab Test Scam – health care centres, health clubs, retirements homes and even stands in shopping malls have been reported as running fake or unnecessary lab test scams, telling people that these tests will be free of charge when in fact they are billed to the health insurance companies.
•    Fake Treatment Claims – once you have handed over your insurance details these could be used by unscrupulous health care professionals to bill your insurance company for treatment and tests you never actually received.

You can help to prevent health insurance fraud in a number ways such as:
•    Avoid signing blank insurance forms, which do not list the types and costs of any treatments, supplies or equipment.
•    Be wary of anyone claiming to provide free treatments, supplies or equipment, and double check that this is free with your insurance policy before proceeding.
•     Keep full records of all of your health care appointments and any treatment you received and ask for a statement of claims from your insurer once a year so that you compare these records and check that all of the claims are correct.