There’s Treasure Waiting to Be Stolen in Your Trash!

November 4th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under • by admin

There’s an old saying that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. A lot of the things we throw away have many years of perfectly good use left, but we want something bigger and better than we had before, so we toss out the old and bring in the new. We know about the big things, such as electronics and furniture that we get rid of before their times is done, but what about your old financial documents, credit card offers and other information about you? A lot of us throw this sort of information away without any concern as to where it’s going. This leaves us wide open for the theft our personal information and thus identity theft. Don’t leave treasure in your trash.

One might not think that people dumpster dive and dig in trash to steal personal information, but it happens more than you might think. Most incidents of identity theft aren’t high-tech criminals stealing your information online, but rather people you know or in your neighborhood that steal your personal information and use it to open accounts in your name. You just never know if or when someone will be snooping through your trash hoping to find some paper-treasure, so don’t take the risk!

There are a lot of different types of paper shredders, and they’re not all the same. Don’t get a traditional strip-cut shredder because it still leaves some semblance of what was on the paper. Be sure to get a cross-cut shredder or a micro-cut shredder to ensure your documents are thoroughly destroyed. Make sure that the paper shredder you buy can also shred credit cards and CD’s so that you can get rid unsolicited cards sent to you in the mail as well as any CD’s that you don’t want to be read anymore. If you have a lot to shred, make sure to get a paper shredder that will let you put in a whole bunch of pages at once to shred.

You can pick-up a decent shredder from Staples or just about any big-box store. A good paper shredder will run anywhere from $25-$50, and it’s well worth the cost! Identity theft can often cost thousands of dollars to clean up; spending a few bucks here and there to make sure it doesn’t happen is worth every penny.