SHRED IT OR REGRET IT
by George Beitzel
We recently read that Glenbrooke residents will have the opportunity to shred paperwork at Arbour Lodge on April 16, if 25 homeowners sign up. *
Joan and I were victims of credit card fraud last fall. Millions of Americans are victims of some type of identification scam each year. And the main source of this fraud is not online purchases but your old paperwork found by the dumpster diver.
We shred all excess stuff with account numbers, birth dates, passwords, signatures, social security numbers, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc. This includes old bank and credit card statements, receipts, insurance forms, medical bills, checks, stock and mutual fund statements and income tax returns. I think the most dangerous items are those checks your credit card company mails you now and then, unsolicited credit card applications preprinted with your name and address on them and credit cards you no longer need or use but have not expired.
Joan even tears off the labels from catalogs with the code numbers on them. Yep we're born again shredders. If this sounds like a rant from some old nutcase, go through the problems and headaches created by an identity theft or credit card fraud and you too will join the shred it support group.
Mental note. If you shred your stuff at home make sure you put the shreds in a paper bag and seal it before tossing in the trash bin. Or you may have a major clean up job on your hands.
*There was a flyer in the Gazette about a shredder truck scheduled to be here Saturday April 16 at Arbour Lodge parking lot. $ 8 per bankers box of stuff or $ 12 for 2 boxes of stuff. They need a minimum of 25 homeowners signed and paid up by Friday March 25 to make the deal work.
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Didn't receive the flyer....did they say anything about removing staples, paper clips, etc. Will the shredding be done onsite in our view? Everyone should have a shredder in their home. They're actually inexpensive and very handy for use each day for all that junk mail we receive with our names and more on some of it. Like George said, unbelievable how many preapproved credit card, insurance, etc. applications we receive each month. Lots of information on those too. LOL about dumping in the garbage cans loose. Neighbor did that and when they dumped it, wind blown shredded paper was all over the street. Trash collector wasn't too happy.
George, I was wondering how you first found out your identity was stolen? Were you able to clear it up or are you still dealing with the hassle?
Darcie: In our case we stayed at a hotel in San Francisco for a Civil War conference. Apparently a sophisticated computer hacker had placed some software in the hotels computer that forwarded all the credit card information to them. They in turn made new credit cards with the information and sold them to crooks. 18 of us at the hotel
( including our Pulitzer Prize winning speaker ) had credit card fraud all over the U.S. Ours was for $ 550 in New Jersey. Our credit card company called us as I had made a transaction in Elk Grove at the same time they were made in New Jersey. Our card was cancelled and the credit card company took the loss. A few years ago Joan's purse was stolen and we had to go through mucho hassle. But that's a story for another day. And why we think about this kinda stuff.