Did you see The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet this morning?
They had a really interesting segment on medical identity theft.
One lady they interviewed had her identity stolen by a drug addicted woman who actually went to the hospital and had a drug addicted baby and not only racked up all sorts of medical bills, but also put the innocent woman's name down as the mother on the baby's birth certificate!
This act of identity theft caused all sorts of problems for the woman who had her identity stolen, including almost having her own 4 children taken away from her by child protective services, having her emergency contact information changed and having her blood type and medical information changed in her medical files.
That is some really crazy and scary stuff!
I tell people all the time, identity theft is NOT just limited to the more commonly known acts of credit card theft and fraud. Identity theft can span well beyond a person's finances, and also affect them legally and medically.
Identity thieves can use stolen identity information to receive medical services and rack up medical bills in their victim's names, to conceal their true identity when they run into trouble with the law, and to gain employment if they're hiding from the law or child support issues, or if they can not legally work in the US.
Identity theft can wreak havoc on a person's finances and personal information, and unfortunately, after the damage is done, it can take a long time and lots of energy to straighten out.
