There are more than eight-million victims of identity theft in the United States every year; on average they lose $750 per incident and spend 59 hours of personal time closing fraudulent accounts.
You can reduce your risk of identity fraud by shredding junk mail and documents you no longer need that contain any of the following personal information items a thief requires to impersonate you: social security numbers, passwords, account numbers, PINs, signatures, and/or dates of birth.
The bottom line: Shredders start at around $30, making them an effective yet inexpensive way to help ensure the only person claiming to be you is … you.
Photo Credit: ADoseofShipBoy
Composting also works well. Or get a couple of gerbils.
Good post! Cross cut shredders are best. We also use some receipts to start fires in the winter.
Me, too.
We just put the sensitive stuff in an Amazon delivery box and use it to start up the wood stove in the fall.
We keep a kitchen garbage sized can beside ‘the desk’ for all sensitive stuff. When full, the bag liner comes out and goes to the sawmill slab burn pile for incineration.
Burning is even better than shredding. Just don’t tell that to the EPA, Andy.
Been shredding for awhile, and hope my identity never gets stolen :).
With the help of paper shredder machines, identity theft can be prevented. The chance for fraudters to gain access to your information is lessened.
Better shred than read. I have actually worn out two shredders over the last fifteen years.
Hmm … it looks like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum up what I had written and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog, Len!
Thank you, Colleen!
Our town does free bulk paper shredding twice a year. You pull up to a truck with your tons of crap, they load it in, and you watch through the window saying “Die! Die!” Still, some people don’t “trust” it. We’ve got one of those $30 paper shredders but the dang thing overheats after 15 minutes.
I may be rationalizing but the fact that we’ve had a credit freeze with the three bureaus for years, eases my mind a bit. It’s also free to thaw and re-freeze in North Carolina. I know it works because I could not check my own Social Security records on line, and the Veteran’s Administration could not do a background check on me (as fiduciary for my aunt’s benefits) until I thawed. The VA guy was pissed. He said “I’m a Fed, I can get any information I want!” No, he couldn’t.
My credit has been frozen for almost 10 years now too, Mrs. G. Here in California I have to pay $10 per agency to do a thaw. Not a big deal really, since I thaw my report maybe once every other year on average, but it is still $30 a pop.