Protecting myself from identity fraud and potentially other crimes

RHemmings

It seems that I have exposed myself to identity fraud by carelessly disposing of shredded documents. I have since read that crooks may reassemble documents and use the information for crime.

It's too late for me to stop this potential information leak. What should I do now to protect myself? 

I'm in the midst of a house purchase, so I need to be careful about not blocking that. 

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated. 

Keep_pedalling

If you have shredded your documents there is little chance the a criminal is going to go to the trouble of piecing  it altogether again on the off chance that there may be something they can use amount it all. 

born_again

RHemmings said:

It seems that I have exposed myself to identity fraud by carelessly disposing of shredded documents. I have since read that crooks may reassemble documents and use the information for crime.

It's too late for me to stop this potential information leak. What should I do now to protect myself? 

I'm in the midst of a house purchase, so I need to be careful about not blocking that. 

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated. 

For a average person this is not a issue. If you are someone of interest to certain groups, then it maybe a issue.

You could shred & then burn, if you are that worried.

RHemmings

I'm more concerned about the shredded documents I've already disposed of; in the future I can easily be more careful. I wouldn't describe my single cut shredder I have at the moment particularly secure. 

There was an article on security I read that warned about the reassembly of documents, and said that this was something that does happen. This one: https://www.shrednations.com/blog/cross-cut-shredding-security/ 

Brie

RHemmings said:

I'm more concerned about the shredded documents I've already disposed of; in the future I can easily be more careful. I wouldn't describe my single cut shredder I have at the moment particularly secure. 

There was an article on security I read that warned about the reassembly of documents, and said that this was something that does happen. This one: https://www.shrednations.com/blog/cross-cut-shredding-security/ 

The link is to a company that is selling a shredding service.  They are trying to scare you into using them or a similar company.  The average individual doesn't need that level of security.  

The only reason you might want to consider very secure shredding and disposal is if you have significant assets.  I can't imagine anyone going through a bin where there's shredded documents unless they know that the individuals living there are wealthy as the risk and time taken vs the return wouldn't be worth the effort.  

You can buy a relatively cheap cross cut shredder from the usual sources.  Or you can rip your documents in half - so only a portion of the info is on each half - shred each half separately and dispose in different bins.  If a crook has your name and address (which is easily available anyways) but not your account number then they are very unlikely to be able to access your accounts using the scraps of paper.  

Another alternative is to go paperless.  Then they just need to hack your pc....

elsien

RHemmings said:

I'm more concerned about the shredded documents I've already disposed of; in the future I can easily be more careful. I wouldn't describe my single cut shredder I have at the moment particularly secure. 

There was an article on security I read that warned about the reassembly of documents, and said that this was something that does happen. This one: https://www.shrednations.com/blog/cross-cut-shredding-security/ 

Crosscut shredders are better in that respect, but bear in mind that it’s a shredder company trying to sell you a shredder, so they would say that.
I would suggest that the realistic chances of anyone targeting some random non famous  person and trying to stick their paperwork back together again is somewhere between zero and non-existent.
Unless you’re on MI5’s radar for some reason?

MattMattMattUK

They are trying to sell you a product by scaring you, as others have said the risk theoretically exists, but for normal members of the public it is not a real risk. The criminals may target high net worth individuals or persons of interest, but not normal members of the public.

Criminals want the maximum return for the minimum of effort, they are not going to spend days/weeks/months trying to reassemble your shredded documents in the hope that they can find something that would allow them to get hold of a bit of money, when they can just find some idiots who are more than happy to transfer their money directly to them.

The key to keeping your financial information safe is not that you have to be completely perfect, you just have to not be one of the low hanging fruit. 

Neil49

In what way have you exposed yourself to identity fraud by carelessly disposing of shredded documents?

Has something occurred recently that has highlighted this issue or is it simply something you have read about. There are numerous ways in which people can acquire information about others and the reassembly of shredded paper is not an easy process.

If something has happened to cause you concern I would be looking elsewhere for answers. 

RHemmings

I was throwing away rubbish, including one bag of shredded documents that didn't fit in my bin and I put it with a bulky waste disposal pile. The shredded documents disappeared before the bulky waste people came. It may have been one of the earlier rubbish and recycling trucks that took it, but I don't know. I was just a bit concerned about it disappearing - a bicycle with the bulky waste disposal disappeared early as well.