Chicago Tribune reports that a criminal group which included insiders from Chicago hospital who used confidential data of more than 100,000 patients to steal at least $150,000 from victim's bank accounts has been arrested.
Among criminals were Tiana Hill, 36, who worked as an administrative employee in the billing department for physicians who practiced at the University of Chicago Hospitals, and Bonnie Williams, 59, a receptionist at Lincoln Park Family Physicians Group. Both women allegedly accessed patient records, obtained bank account and other personal identification information and sold it to criminal ringleaders Geraldine Cooper, 63, and Lamont Martin, 55. According to authorities, the ringleaders obtained the information on more than 100 patients from Hill and dozens from Williams.
If the patients had sufficient money in their bank accounts, Cooper would pose as the account holder or she and Martin would have among six other co-defendants play that role, the charges alleged. Criminals would memorize the patients' personal information in case they were quizzed at the bank and also were provided a copy of the account holder's signature to practice copying it, authorities said.
The last member of the group was Anthony Vaughn, 39, who manufactured false identification documents and sold them to Martin for use in the scheme. The phony identification included photos of those posing as account holders, authorities said.
Stolen checks would be deposited into the accounts and cash would simultaneously be withdrawn, the charges stated.
“This incident casts a shadow on all medical organizations in USA. How can people trust theirs doctors after that?” — commented Denis Zenkin, the Marketing Director of InfoWatch company. “Just imagine that citizens who have problems with the health and are stressed with this fact should additionally worry about identity theft in a hospital. I hope that executives in medical organizations throughout USA teach a good lesson and will pay more attention to internal security in future”, — he added.
Source: Chicago Tribune
