Federal authorities have charged 11 people with allegedly stealing the identities of thousands of Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy holders.
Federal prosecutors allege a Michigan Blue Cross employee printed screen shots of policy holder profiles. That information was used to set up credit card accounts.
“An individual’s personal information has significant value on the black market, which is why the threat of data breaches and identity theft remain at an all-time high,” says Marlon Miller, special agent in charge, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In all, 11 people are charged with running identity theft and credit card fraud schemes.
More than five thousand Blue Cross policy holders were affected.
“We have taken a number of deliberate steps to further secure our members’ information from disclosure,” says Kevin Klobucar, CEO for Blue Care Network.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield is also offering two years of free credit protection services to policy holders affected.
