UHC employee charged in UCI ID Theft
Photo by: Ansik
Following months of investigation, officials made an arrest on the Identity Theft fraud at the University of California, Irvine ( UCI ) campus. On July 8, they picked up Michael Tyrone Thomas from his Fort Worth residence and charged him with being part of an ID theft scam.
The scam came to light when several students tried to file their tax returns in March this year. They were taken aback when IRS authorities told them that their returns for the year had already been filed.
Investigations following complaints of the students, led police to believe the scam to be an insider job. All the complaints, they noticed, were from students who had enrolled for the Graduate Student Health Insurance Program provided by the University. United HealthCare ( UHC ) was contracted by the university to deliver this service to its students. The arrested individual, Michael Thomas, was working in administering the program as an employee of UHC here.
Police allege Michael to have lifted the confidential data of students who had registered to avail of the benefits of the insurance program. He is alleged to have made use of their Social Security Numbers to file tax returns and to receive the refund checks issued against the return.
One hundred and sixty-three students have complained of being victims to the scam.
Authorities have charged Michael Thomas under one count of fraudulent use of identity together with identity theft. He has been lodged at the Dallas County Texas Jail.
Source: UCI Press Release
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