Saturday, October 16, 2010

Massive Medicare ID Theft Fraud

We have warned y'all about the medical side of ID theft. Here is one massive and startling example.

"An Armenian-American crime syndicate stole the identities of doctors and thousands of patients and used them and more than a hundred spurious clinics in 25 states to bill Medicare for more than $100 million for treatments no doctor ever performed and no patient ever received, the federal authorities announced on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said the case represented the largest Medicare fraud operation ever carried out by a single group that resulted in criminal charges. The group succeeded in stealing $35 million in Medicare reimbursements, officials said, before the charges were leveled and arrests were made on Wednesday."

Why had ever heard of this crime syndicate?! The Colombian drug cartels, the North Korean's, the Nigerians YES! But not this ...
"The racketeering indictment charges 28 defendants, including Mr. Kazarian, with crimes tied to the operation of the Armenian-American organized crime group, which it identifies as the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, a nationwide criminal operation with strong ties to Armenia. The group’s leadership is based in New York and Los Angeles, but its operations extend throughout the United States and overseas."

When I tried to get a map of Armenia for this blog my computer security system went crazy and immediately blocked an unauthorized download. So obviously these gangsters have already figgered out how to attack anyone who Googles that country.

So as we amble forwards over time we will need to maintain extreme vigilance and be eyes-wide-open because things will only get worse as the digital and networked word grows even bigger. When there is no face-to-face billing computers simply spit out checks to phantom doctors, clinics and patients.

Be very VERY careful!

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  • Deter. Detect. Defend. Avoid ID Theft - www.ftc.gov/idtheft