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One Man’s Trash Gives Identity Thieves Cash
Did you know that once you wheel your trash bin to the curb, its contents are legally there for the taking? It isn’t household knowledge, but in 1988, the Supreme Court ruled that garbage is public domain. According to the law, once you place that pail or bag at your curb, you are giving up any expectation of privacy to its contents. So a police officer, your nosy neighbor, or an identify thief has every right to rifle through your trash.
What they do with that trash is an entirely different matter. And what identity thieves do is use your identifying information to commit fraud, which ultimately makes them money. There are so many ways in which an identity thief can commit crimes. Almost any indentifying data will do—a birth date, social security number, even a cell phone number is all it takes. In 2006 alone, there were 67,000 victims of identity theft, and the numbers just keep going up.
The only way to put the brakes on this growing epidemic is to destroy all paperwork with identifying information on it. Luckily, with the availability of affordable shredders and shredding services, this can be easily accomplished. A good cross or confetti cut shredder will handle the job for the average consumer. Any trash with identifying information on it, even something as seemingly innocuous as your name and address should get the shredder treatment. Junk mail should be destroyed as well, as it is often overlooked, yet a pre-approved credit application is an identity thief’s dream come true.
For consumers who don’t want to go through the time and effort of shredding their own paperwork, or for businesses, a professional shredding service is definitely the way to go. Shredding services do all the work for you, making the process painless, and they can recycle the shredded documents as well.
With the widespread availability of affordable shredders and professional shredding services, identity theft can be nipped in the bud. So be careful what goes in that trash can…you really never know who might go through it.
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Confidential Shredder Blog
- The Secure Shredding Industry’s Almighty Certificate of Destruction
In the professional shredding industry, there is a document known as the Certificate of Destruction which is given to customers utilizing shredding companies as “proof” that documents have been destroyed. While these COD’s are used by virtually all shredding companies, the similarities end there. There is no universal form for a COD, which can create confusion for you, the consumer, when shopping for a reputable shredding company. - The History of Paper Shredding
The shredding benefits of paper are used widely by different government organizations, business and private enterprises and even individuals. Shredding has become one of the best ways to destroy the private papers like credit card bills, bank statements and other private or sensitive documents that are confidential. Shredding of these documents also helps in reducing the risks of identity thefts. - Most Records Storage Companies do not have the Equipment to Provide Shred Services
Many commercial records storage facilities offer records destruction as a service to their customers. However, in a survey conducted by the National Association for Information Destruction, a majority of the commercial storage firms were found lacking the equipment necessary to provide the service themselves. It is a common practice in that industry to subcontract the destruction of the records. In some cases, disreputable storage firms were found misleading their customers by charging for secure records destruction, while the materials were being sold to a recycling company for scrap. - National Association for Information Destruction Code of Ethics
Members shall not by any means engage in, nor allow the use of, statements that are false, misleading, incomplete, or likely to mislead consumers or members of the public. Members shall respect the confidential nature of the customers’ records and shall maintain appropriate protection to prevent any disclosure of such information except when required by law. Members shall uphold and improve the integrity of the industry by affirmations of truth, fairness and professional conduct. Members shall not consider or represent general office paper recycling as a form of destruction. - Information Protection is a Vital Issue to Senior Management
In a survey conducted by the Conference Board, top executives from 300 companies ranked the security of company records as one of the top five critical issues facing business. When asked which issues required immediate attention and policy development, the security of company records ranked second only to employee health screening. - Incidental Business Records Discarded on a Daily Basis should be Protected
Without a program to control it, the daily trash of every business contains information that could be harmful. This information is especially useful to competitors because it contains the details of current activities. Discarded daily records include phone messages, memos, misprinted forms, drafts of bids and drafts of correspondence.
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Our services can be personalized to fit your company's needs. Whether you need a document destruction service on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis - you tell us how often, we'll be there.
Green Company - We Recycle
Recycling paper has substantial benefits on our eco-system and it is so easy to do! MicroShred utilizes an environmentally friendly method to dispose of highly confidential documents and other materials.
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We provide free locked security containers which are individually keyed for each client.
