Fri 21 Nov 2008
The terrible truth of this day and age is long since detached from the image of a hungry cartoon bear rummaging through metal trash cans for sustenance. If there is commotion happening in your residential alleyway or the sound of a heavy plastic wheelie bin lid slamming shut wakes you at an ungodly hour then the motive for the midnight visit is far removed from the perpetrator seeking a ‘Pickanic basket’.
When people fail to comply with the copious amounts of shredding advice that saturate any personal documentation security advice websites then the worst can. From seemingly mundane personal documents, someone with the knowhow can redirect mail, apply for various forms of credit and destroy your credit rating. It is the personification of the ‘it won’t happen to me’ syndrome and can be prevented by one small investment in shredding equipment.
This article goes some way to explain the identity fraud process and illustrate how simple certain prevention techniques can be such as shredding. The process begins with the perpetrator acquiring certain personal documents such as bank and credit card statements, tax information, pay slips, utility bills and any sensitive information from your local authority such as council tax bills.
If these crucial documents are discarded and not destroyed in a shredder then that leaves you vulnerable. This allows key personal information accessible to someone who can use it to pass security checks. Credit card numbers combined with information such as date of birth, address or previous addresses and any other variable can allow someone to gain access to any personal account. This is when the pivotal moment in any identity theft occurs.
As soon as the perpetrator has reached the point where they have enough evidence to pass a security check or reset a password then they can begin to redirect crucial documents to a false address. They then begin to collate personal information and start to apply for other more valid forms of identification beginning with library cards, reissued birth certificates and even passports.
As opposed to skimming credit card details and maxing your existing credit cards, which is a short term scam that can be easily resolved and incur no problems for your credit rating, talented identity fraudsters will apply for new credit cards, loans and finance agreements to the false address and gradually build up a new credit rating. There is no limit to what the fraudsters can run up and because these agreements have been approved in your name they are much harder to reverse.
All this can be avoided by shredding your personal documents as opposed to throwing them away. There are early warning signs that can be picked up on that will act as a damage limitation exercise so that the fraudster does not get a real foothold in your identity. These warning signs consist simply of missing bills. This is a telltale indicator that your mail has been redirected needs to be acted on instantly as you will have no knowledge of future credit applications that go straight to the false address.
A simple phone call to check on a belated bill will potentially save years of court appearances and correspondence with credit agencies to restore a decimated credit rating. All this can be prevented by shredding. Shredders are available from most stationary stores and the best deals can be found online.
Dominic Donaldson is a private investigator and an expert on shredding and other personal security matters with years of experience in industrial security.