Harsh Economic Times Bring Out Old Fashioned Thievery

Fri, Jan 09, 2009 at 2:27:00 pm PDT

For months the United States has been laboring through a recession.  Businesses have been closing (Borders and Waldenbooks), major stores have been reducing drastically their prices in the hopes of stimulating purchases (Macy’s and Best Buy), companies in the auto industry and more have required swift government intervention (GM and Citigroup), unemployment lines are getting longer and predictions for 2009 are getting worse.
Because the outlook appears dire for the upcoming year, banks are still largely refraining from lending credit.  Despite a major government offensive to stabilize financial institutions across the country, banks and credit card companies are still nervous to lend any money for fear they will not be repaid.  A temporary increase/improvement in F.D.I.C. insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 and a very significant infusion of cash has not helped to quell fears.
With less credit being distributed around the country and globe and individuals as well as major companies becoming increasingly anxious about a further economic downturn, crime has increased, but it has not necessarily been the type that has grown exponentially in recent years.  As a matter of fact, it has been the kind that has seen a sharp decline during better economic times.
More specifically, while identity theft is still a very serious problem that Americans are facing in growing numbers yearly, the retention of services such as ID Secure, which provides web crawling technology that can help prevent one’s identity from being compromised, is helping to curb the degree to which it is spreading.  Moreover, Americans are becoming more and more aware of phishing scams as well as the need to check for secure websites before making online purchases.  They are investing prudently the requisite time and money into resources that will help decrease the likelihood they will be victims of identity fraud.
With fewer options available to them, therefore, thieves are going back to some tried and true means of stealing.  Purse snatchings, shoplifting, car jackings, burglaries and robberies are on the rise again, confirming the old truism about economic downturns and criminal upturns.  Municipalities across the country: Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and others, are reporting an increase in “traditional” crimes as our stock markets, consumer index reports and national confidence continue to plunge.
Another particularly popular, not to mention ingenious, form of crime on the rise is health care fraud.  According to a recent report (dated December 01, 2008) commissioned by the United States Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice, the government has retrieved almost $2,000,000,000 in stolen money/goods.
Many times doctors, members of the population often thought to be more sophisticated intellectually and morally, are the perpetrators.  Citing reasons ranging from not receiving payments from financially strapped patients to good old fashioned greed, doctors are falsifying medical reports more and more, referring to an excessive number of tests they have ordered for a patient who is not in need for example.  Refusing to register pregnant women properly (and therefore skewing the number of people to insure) on the part of business owners, accepting kickbacks, falsifying cost reports, engaging in secondary payor fraud, home health fraud, hospital fraud, pharmacy-related fraud, Medicare and Medi-Cal frauds are just some more crimes with which the government is contending.
Whether one acquires it in the form of cash, credit or health care reimbursements, money is money.  Because people around the country, even those thought to be in recession-proof professions, are in greater need of it due to our economic difficulties, they are resorting to stealing.  While identity theft is still a common way to obtain funds illegally, there is no shortage of other ways including old “traditional” means and health care fraud.  Americans can expect to see these crimes and others continue to rise until our economy stabilizes.