In Texas, identity theft is still a sad reality for many residents who must come to terms with its risks. You might be surprised by the lengths that someone will go to to obtain information, including pickpocketing and dumpster diving. One of the best ways to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft is to examine your everyday habits; what are you throwing away? Thanks to effective prevention methods, you can reduce your chances of being victimized.
To ensure that your identity is protected, know what is ok to throw in the trash and what isn’t. It may surprise you what you should destroy securely; in fact, what you consider harmless documents, such as ATM receipts, can actually be thieves’ gateways into your savings account.
You should also strongly consider shredding some other documents besides ATM receipts:
- Boarding passes and used airline tickets
- Resumes
- Copies of birth certificate
- Veterinary invoices, but you may want to keep certain records to prevent problems in the future
- Employee records and stubs
- Legal and insurance documents that have expired or are redundant
It’s important to remember that most of your business and personal records contain data that makes it possible, and sometimes rather simple, for a thief to find and steal your identity.
To that end, there are records you should be keeping in a secure place for legal and financial purposes, some of which will come in handy if you are the victim of identity theft and require proof of identity to recover.
What kind of records should be stored in a secure place?
- Canceled cheques
- Credit card statements
- Receipts including tax receipts
- Investment statements
- Insurance policies – however, these should be shredded every year
If you follow these suggestions, you can greatly reduce the chances of falling victim to identity theft. All that remains is to decide how to safely store important documents, and how to shred the rest. As far as storage is concerned, a locked safe in a secure location will do.
For all other records deemed private that you wish to include in your shredding pile, contact ATI SecureDocs with locations in both Austin and Houston.
Our state of the art facility ensures safe, efficient and complete destruction of your confidential documents – we also guarantee 100% security when you work with us.