Methods of Preventing Identity Theft

You can be sure about the safety of your home, by locking up all important documents and valuables. But how would you safeguard your personal identity? What if you knew that the bank documents you threw into the trash can are being used against you?

It is always good to destroy important documents after they have served their purpose. This may include your credit card numbers or any other kind of personal information that could be used by 'posers'.

According to the National Crime Prevention Council, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America. Well over 7 million people had filed identity theft complaints in 2006. Keeping this in mind, certain laws have been enacted. You should destroy completely all documents that contain any kind of personal information. It could be burned, pulverized or shredded. Likewise, if you have a business, and someone else's information has been leaked out because of your negligence, they could sue you.

According to certain provisions of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act or FACTA, you can view your credit report at least once a year. According to the provisions, there are federal fines of nearly $2,2500.00 and state fines of $1,000 for non-compliance. In the case of any breach in information security, Individuals stand to suffer huge losses. FACTA basically aims to protect organization and consumer privacy, which includes credit information, corporate trade secrets and medical records.

The following are some of the penalties to businesses specified by the National Association for Information Destruction or NAID, a paper-shredding industry trade group:

• Civil Liability: Due to your negligence, if important employee information is leaked, you have to pay for the damages. This could result in a payment of nearly $1,000 for statutory damages.
• Federal fines: $2,500 for every violation.
• State fines: $1,000 for every violation.

Investing in a commercial paper shredder is a lot cheaper than paying fines. Personal shredders are available at $15 to $250, whereas office shredders are priced at $2,000+. Better yet, concentrate on your business and subscribe to a commercial shredding service.

Financial data is not the only kind of information that needs to be secured. The following are also in need of being safeguarded from theft and misuse:

• Bank information
• Canceled or blank checks
• Budgets
• Credit card offers
• Employee evaluations
• Credit card information
• Income tax records
• Financial statements
• Investment information
• Insurance coverage
• Medical records
• Legal papers
• Personal bills

Your garbage can may be full of waste - according to you. But, as they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Too often, people dispose important information in convenient garbage cans, without realizing that this is the best place for thieves to get their hands on valuable information. It is very important to stop being irresponsible and begin destroying important information thoroughly. Criminals make use of any sloppily discarded information. To be on the safe side, you should use a document shredder or hire a document shredding company. Whether you have information saved on CD's, digital records, key tapes, plastic films, ID cards, microfiche, key tapes or floppy disks, there is a shredder suitable for all the material.

Many offices have shredders for destroying bulk documents. There are a number of shredder designs, namely strip cutting, ultra security cutting and cross cutting. Shredding can also be conducted on a large scale, by engaging the services of official shredding companies. These companies provide storage cans for the waste material. They either charge by volume or the weight of the trash.