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Pictures taken in February and March of 2012 show Alci Bonannee and Chante Mozley, two convicted identity thieves, withdrawing cash from several banks in Broward County.
The federal government says the money came from stolen tax refunds that belonged to people like Miami resident Joseph Szot.
“When I filed a return, the accountant told me you can’t file because somebody filed already,” Szot said.
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And just how did Bonannee and Mozley get Szot's tax refund? Federal authorities said it happened while he was a patient at South Miami Hospital.
The pair is accused of paying respiratory therapist Betty Cole for patients’ personal information including their Social Security number. Internal Revenue Service Special Agent in Charge of the Miami office, Tony Gonzalez said: “The bad guys that are able to get these Social Security numbers are buying them from employees that work at these hospitals and these medical centers which are sold up to $150 each.”
The breach at South Miami Hospital happened between June of 2011 and February 2012 and affected 834 patients.
In a statement, Baptist Health, which operates South Miami Hospital, said "the employee was terminated, and efforts are underway to prosecute this individual to the fullest extent possible."
NBC 6 reached out to that employee, Betty Cole, but she didn't want to talk to the Team 6 Investigators.
The south Miami case is the latest hospital ID theft to surface in South Florida. Since 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services has received reports that hundreds of thousands of patients have been affected by breaches at hospitals across South Florida. The hospitals with the largest breaches include Memorial Healthcare System with 111,650 patients affected, the University of Miami Health System with 66,065 people, Mount Sinai Medical Center with 2,600 patients and Jackson Health System with 2,062 patients.
Although many hospitals have had more breaches, a federal act called HITECH only requires that medical centers report breaches that affect more than 500 patients. Gonzalez said investigators have seen a case where a “gentleman who provided a service of taking elders home after being seen at a hospital, would cut their little tabs off their wristbands and with the patient number, walk into the hospital, look at the computer and get a Social Security number without ever being an employee of that hospital.”
In April of last year, Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood notified about 9,500 patients that two employees were fired because they may have inappropriately accessed their personal information with the intent to process fraudulent tax returns. In a statement, Memorial said it “continues to enhance its security controls and monitoring systems, limit user access in all physicians’ offices, and has reinforced the importance of the privacy and confidentiality of patients’ information with its staff and affiliated physicians’ employees.”
Last year, Jackson North had a breach that affected over 500 patients. Ed O’Dell, the spokesperson for Jackson Health system, says in that case it “was a volunteer in a patient care area and he was apparently taking pictures of patient information.”
Since then, Jackson has implemented new rules for volunteers prohibiting them from using smartphones in patient areas. Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association, a trade association, said the industry is not immune to breaches. She told NBC 6: “Proportionate to the number of people who are seen in our member institutions it’s not pervasive in any way.”
Szot doesn't blame South Miami hospital. He said he believes companies in general should find a way to reduce the risk of security breaches.
“I think corporations use Social Security numbers too much for identifying you, putting the information out to too many people,” he said.
The IRS said hospitals have been cooperating with them to combat identity theft, a growing crime.
So how can you avoid becoming a victim at a hospital?
Quick said: “you do not have to provide your Social Security number, but you do have to provide enough information for you to be distinguishable from other people.”
A hospital may still require your Social Security number to verify coverage if your insurance provider only identifies you that way, but experts say you should ask questions before handing your number over.
Postal Inspector Blanca Alvarez said, “you don’t always have to give it, if they ask for it, make sure that there’s a valid reason to receive it but it doesn’t often have to be given.”
The IRS says identity theft affects many industries, not just hospitals. According to HHS reports, health insurance companies have had breaches affecting millions of Floridians.
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The problem identity thieves rarely get caught and are prosecuted .
I'm telling you now - most are not admitting to how our private information is being stolen. Most of this has resulted from the United States Supreme Court ruling granting corporate personhood because the mega-corporations are taking liberties with our private information figuring that no one person is actually going to take them to court citing the Equal Protection clause. The litigation would be too injurious to the private party.
Some hotel clerks, some bankers, some law enforcement, some university financial aid employees, even some IRS employees engage in corrupt practices involving identity theft, fraud, or larceny, or attempted larceny.
When you witness the IRS deliberately moving out your date of deposit one day at a time as what happened to me in 2011, this is pretty remarkable as a first in my life. I did report it. I kept careful track of how some employees from the federal agency were deliberately changing the date of my federal refund deposit one day at a time as though I would not notice so as to prevent deposit of my federal check.
I finally contacted them and explained that I reported to law enforcement.
I also caught two financial aid advisors in 2009 engaging in fraud by deliberately separating a disbursement to my bank account into two increments that did not add up to the total amount that the lending agency showed. There was approximately $1000.00 missing from the total. I reported them to the financial aid director, the FBI, and Inspector General.
Both parties were confident nothing would result from their criminal conduct.
The punishment for identity theft/fraud should be death. Our laws are way too lenient. Unfortunately, much of it is carried out by overseas criminals.
You can't trust anyone with your data, information like SSN should not be written in any charts or accessible to anyone outside of people that need this for coverage verification or billing.
We've stopped giving our SS numbers to people like doctors for this reason. They really don't need it - they have your insurance info already!
Efforts? There ought to be a vigorous prosecution, period.
Had a situation a few years ago where a maid at a Las Vegas hotel stole a couple of my checks from the middle of my checkbook while cleaning the room I was staying in. The first check was cashed by an illegal for $450.00. The only reason I noticed it was because the check was so far out of sequence from the numbers I was using at the time. I wonder how many others this gal got away with before being caught? The Las Vegas Metro caught her, but I don't know if they prosecuted or not. They wouldn't give me any information. I am sure they don't want that leaking out. Not good for business.
One of the reasons why I do not use checks anymore. If I require paper tender, I use a traveler's check, money order or certified bank check. The crimes are increasing to a level of epidemic proportion. I do not bank like I used to anymore. It is becoming preferable to receive Email receipts rather than keeping paper which is disposable. Email receipts you can distribute all over creation to prove that a transaction was made - but paper is shredded, stolen, eliminated. For some reason, New England thinks that paper records are the greatest thing since sliced bread was invented. Corrupt officers spend tax dollars seizing this evidence to protect themselves from prosecution. Crazy. Problem is, the courts still fail to broadly welcome computers in 2013, but languish in the 'olden days' as though we have no virtual record of anything. Can't understand that reasoning behind the fact that older judges (index-finger typists) know better but tend to ignore information technology as valid record, where most attorneys now are going paperless to avoid the constant threat by law enforcement or others that suppress or conceal records by seizures and destruction of that evidence.
Today, I received calls at 10:46 and 2:26 from 1-849-963-4896 - I check and find it is a Dominican Rebublic area code.
Hope it is not a part of this story. Thanks
Today, I received two phone calls (10:46 & 2:26) from 1-849-963-4896. I check and find it is a Dominican Republic area code. Hope it is not a part of this article. Thanks (Yes, I was at a hospital, this week)
Hospitals should be fined $5,000 for every case of identity theft and pay back the affected person for every dollar stolen. Nothing get's a faster response from a corporation than having to pay fines, taking away their profit. Hospital software could be coded to not show the entire SSN, access restricted to only a very few people. Sad to say most hospitals are operating on the cheap, ripping off patients every way they can. Read about it here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2136864,00.html
My brother-in-law was the victim of identity theft. He worked for the fed. govt. and there was a ring in the personnel office stealing Social Security numbers of employees out of the personnel files and using them to steal. They were caught, but did some damage before that happened.
The punishment for ID theft is too lenient. To the victims, it takes soooooo long to get your financial life back on track and the perpetrators are back out there doing it to someone else. The penalties should be harsher. And for the employee, make sure the only job she can ever get again involves a fryer and a name tag.
Your Medicare ID number is your social security number.
I was shocked when I got my Medicare card last year and saw that. I've written to my senator about it but (of course) have never received a response. I think this way of identifying medicare recipients is ridiculous. What happens if you're mugged and you happen to have your medicare care with you because you're on the way to the doctor's? What happens if the clerk in the doctor's office is selling your information. Disgusting!
once again...why are social security numbers used for every darn thing from Medicare, Credit Cards, Mortgage loans, turning on utilities, getting a cell phone, college ID, ect. Instead they should have only been used with one purpose only and that is for social security purposes. Not an all encompassing ID number.
Shoot these characters and dump their bodies in the sea and it can cleanse their souls.
This is just another way of showing how sick and messed up people are these days. They dont care about anybody else but themselves now.
Just to correct an error - under HITECH, all breaches need to be reported to Health and Human Services (and the patient(s)). However, if there are more than 500 people involved, the hospital additionally needs to notify the media. Whether the media chooses to run the story is up to them.
This pair should be executed as a deterrent to others.
China has a few things right.
Hospitals and Public schools are the number one place where identities are stolen! No one seems to really care though!