Oh, the Humanity!

There was a data breach involving my company health insurance. People’s names, addresses, socials and birthdays were all taken. The actual breech occurred at the end of last year, but the ramifications of it are only now coming to light. More than a few people at work that I know, have had their identities stolen and used to file fraudulent income tax returns. They only discover that this has occurred when they go to electronically file their own returns. They can’t do it and have to use the more laborious manual methods instead. Any refunds that they were expecting are now delayed by months. Like I said, more than a few people have been affected in this way. We weren’t though, because Anne filed early, anticipating this phenomenon. Plus we always jigger our taxes so that we owe anyway, so there is no tax refund to worry about. We got a letter last week that told us that we were being put on a credit monitoring service. So, I figured that was all she wrote, but today I spoke with a guy who was incensed, because he thought that someone was using his identity to fraudulently obtain medical care. He had received statements for medical services that he did not receive. This seemed strange to me, because every time I go to the doctor now, I have to show a photo ID, but this wouldn’t be the first example of medical fraud. Like I said, this guy was mad. Even though none of this was going to cost him a dime, someone was stealing using his name. He thought that prison was too good for people like this and that they should be thrown into a pit with wild animals. Initially, I discounted his statements as hyperbole, but it soon became clear that he was serious in his hatred, which made me question who I was working with and whether I had already been thrown into a pit with wild animals.