Identity Theft and Dumpster Diving

Jun 1, 2016

Generally speaking, nobody enjoys the day when it’s time to pay those hefty utility bills that turn up each month. Once each bill is sorted out and paid, a lot of us are guilty of tucking the paperwork away in the garbage or recycling bin, assuming there is no need to reference anything. While this may seem reasonable, it’s actually one of the biggest mistakes you could make, and unfortunately one that may result in significant consequences for you.

Throwing away paperwork that contains sensitive information offers no security to you because if any of it is obtained by the wrong individual, it may offer enough information for identity theft to occur.

Your personal mail is flooded with identification data such as your name, address, phone number, credit card number, and of course bank account numbers. If these papers land in the local trash bin, they will be picked up with the rest of your garbage and potentially snagged by an individual of interest.

Your Trash is an Identity Thief’s Treasure

What’s the problem with tossing away your paid bills? Surely no one is dedicated enough to sort through your garbage to find juicy information, right? Wrong. Never underestimate what identity thieves are capable of, or what revealing even the slightest bit of information can lead to. If a criminal has the motivation, they will take the time to sort through your garbage until they locate what they need. The information you thought was meaningless can give an identity thief enough ammunition to request new credit cards or even empty your bank account.

The truth is that many of those credit card approval letters we often loathe getting in the mail are tossed away and later retrieved by the hands of dumpster divers. If this takes place it’s extremely easy for a criminal to respond to the letter, provide a new address and instantly receive credit under your name; the approval process is especially fast if you’ve established good credit. Once approval is processed, you can bet they will take full advantage of it, racking up thousands of dollars in debt that you might not even discover until far down the road. At the end of the day, if you are carelessly throwing away financial documents rather than securely shredding them, you are supplying trash bins with a gold mine of sensitive information that a criminal would be eager to get their hands on!

document shredding

Stay Clear of Identity Theft

  • Refrain from throwing away documents that have a Social Security Number, driver’s license number, or bank account number.
  • Always shred any material that contains sensitive information, rather than crumpling the paper up and tossing it into an open garbage or recycling bin.
  • Carefully shred all old credit and debit cards so that nothing is readable, and be sure to trust in a reliable and experienced shredding company, to securely shred your information.

When you allow ShredPro Secure to look after your confidential documents, we’ll ensure all material is safely shred and disposed of so you or your company, customers, and employees are always protected.

Contact our team today for more information on our convenient shredding services. Call us at 865-986-5444

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