Today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida revealed a prosecution stemming from an insider breach impacting Aventura Hospital patients, although I’m not confident I can figure out which Aventura Hospital breach this is related to (see PHIprivacy.net and this site for previous reports of Aventura Hospital insider breaches). Note that the employee…
Category: ID Theft
CareerSource South Florida employee stole and sold identity info on public benefits applicants
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced a slew of indictments today. Here’s one that involved a government database: United States v. Cora Eutsay, Case No. 15-2250-MJ-Turnoff Cora Eutsay, 50, of Miami, was charged by criminal complaint with trafficking in and using unauthorized access devices to obtain anything of value, aggregating $1,000…
CA: Mastermind of $1 Million Medicare Fraud Sentenced to 30 Months
I’ve repeatedly noted that Medicare/Medicaid fraud schemes pose significant risks to patients who do not know that their files have now been corrupted by inaccurate or false records used to support a fraud scheme. The following press release from the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California highlights yet an…
PF Chang’s continues its success in thwarting data breach class action lawsuits
Linn Freedman writes: We have been closely watching the class action suits against PF Chang’s (and other retailers) relating to the bistro’s data breach last year. In December, a federal district court in Illinois dismissed a proposed class action against PF Chang’s because the plaintiffs were unable to show that they had suffered actual harm…
PA: Couple gets prison time for tax refund fraud scheme that used Crozer-Chester patients’ information
There’s an update to a case I’ve been covering since March, 2013, when Rafael Henriquez Polanco and his wife, Yanira Lopez, were first charged in a tax refund fraud scheme. According to court records, as part of the scheme, they paid employees at Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Chester Community Hospital to provide them with identity information of 144 patients. The hospitals…
FL: Broward Resident Pleads Guilty to Stealing Personally Identifiable Information of Magazine Subscription Customers
Eartha Ann Worthy, 29, of Broward County, Florida pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft for her participation in an identity theft fraud scheme involving the personally identifiable information of magazine subscription customers. According to court documents, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant…