Don’t Throw Away Your Identity!

Don’t throw away your identity. These days, the large amount of information available online means small pieces can yield big results in the right hands. Keep this in mind as you’re disposing of documents or other trash.

Avoid showcasing the contents of your home and don’t throw out whole boxes for things like televisions, guns or other costly items. Take a few extra minutes to break down the boxes and secure them together using tape or twine. This won’t stop a thief from looking through them, but they’ll be harder to spot by someone just cruising and looking for an easy target.

For documents, invest in a good confetti-cut shredder to prevent thieves from piecing together information about you. Always be sure to shred things like credit card offers or utility company notices.

While identity thieves may not be able to gather much from a utility notice, they could use it to social engineer a company into providing more information about you.

Always consider what information someone could gather from what you’re throwing out. Recovering from identity theft can be a long and expensive process, so do anything you can to prevent it.

[OldPackMule]

Cut the labels and bar codes off your packages and shred them. Recycle the remaining pieces.

[jamesSmith-uhip]

Recycle cardboard boxes whenever possible.