|
Unless you're a celebrity you would probably never imagine that someone would want to go through your trash. You are probably thinking, "There is nothing valuable in my trash". Well unless you take precautions there very well may be enough information in your trash to take over your identity. Dumpster diving is a way identity thieves get the information to steal someone's identity. They rummage through garbage cans looking for anything that might contain personal information. Here are some examples of what a dumpster diver may be looking for and what they may be able to do with the information. Pre-approved credit card offers - Millions of consumers receive those pre-approved credit card offers every month. Many just discard these applications without shredding them. If an identity theft comes across one while dumpster diving they could complete the application and attempt to have the card sent to them at another address. Bank Statements - If a thief comes across a discarded bank statement they now have your account numbers. They may try to impersonate you and have your address changed at your bank or create bogus checks with your account number. Checks - If you discard voided checks or copies of checks, the thief could easily create duplicate bogus checks. There are many programs out there that make this procedure simple. These are just some of the things an identity thief looks for when rummaging through trash. The most important thing you can do to protect yourself is to shred all documents with personal information on them. If you do not have a shredder cut or tear the documents into little pieces. |
