Rarely has there been a riper time for con artists to come out of the woodwork to lure unsuspecting victims into their lairs, with such advertisements as "easy ways to make money", "quick money", and "how to earn money fast." The reason: The U.S. unemployment rate has been hovering around 9.6% and millions of Americans are currently out of work, desperate for any sort of employment.

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It all started with credit cards. Remembering your PIN number in the check-out line was that industry's Hail Mary Pass to cut losses from fraudulent purchases back in the mid-80s. Fingerprint and retinal scans were developed by the FBI about the same time to keep us out of secure areas and to keep our prying eyes off top-secret documents.

Now, fast forward about 20 or so years. Throw in a dismal economy, mix in thousands of suddenly uninsured Americans and you've got the makings of an apparently unforeseen black hole of security that could threaten the future of affordable healthcare and the efforts of Congress to reform it.

A woman in New York City faces up to seven years in prison on charges she recently forged more than 50 insurance claims that submitted them to her health insurance company for reimbursement. Meanwhile in Miami, a medical clinic for senior patients was raided after investigators discovered a front desk clerk sharing 1,100 Medicare IDs and patient information with her family members. One of her cousins allegedly made off with $2.8 million in fraudulent refunds for services never rendered.

"As more people are not getting the health care they need, we're seeing an increasing incidence of medical identity fraud," tells Michigan-based attorney Norbert Kugele to the New York Times. "Someone will show up at a hospital with someone else's insurance information and will seek treatment under their name."

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The tax refund ruse. Bogus e-mails purporting to be from the IRS are common during tax season. But after April 15, they often contain especially enticing bait, the promise of a fat refund if you’ll just provide your Social Security number to prove you’re you. The e-mail is usually just an attempt to get personal information for identity theft.

Or it may contain an attachment that supposedly has details of your refund. Opening the attachment unleashes dangerous malware on your computer, including keystroke loggers that can give the spammers your account numbers and passwords.

Your defense: Delete—without opening—any unsolicited e-mail from the IRS and wait for your real refund to come the authentic way, via the U.S. Postal Service or a direct deposit.