Exclusive: Memo seen by Guardian Australia removed Medicare card from list of documents allowed for identity checks
The Australian Tax Office temporarily suspended Medicare cards from use as proof of identification documents but quickly withdrew their suspension, signalling confusion within the federal government over how to respond to the sale of Medicare details on the darknet.
An investigation by the Guardian revealed on Tuesday that a darknet vendor on a popular auction site for illegal products claimed to have access to any Australian’s Medicare card details and could supply them on request.
Related: Medicare breach: it just got a whole lot harder to trust government with our data | Ellen Broad
Related: Medicare data breach: Alan Tudge admits department unaware darknet vendor selling card details
