An obscure paper document may seem innocent to you. However, it could in fact contain just the right piece of information for an identity thief to impersonate you and conduct fraud. Leaving you financially exposed to debts from erroneous credit cards or personal loans taken out in your name. All from a bit of discarded waste paper!

Over 75% of Australians throw away personal documents insecurely which could compromise their identity¹. Identity theft costs Australia over $1.6 billion each year and is growing². Over 85% of Australian’s fear identity theft could happen to them³. This is mostly because they are not aware of what they can do to prevent it.

Financial statements, expired IDs and old credit and debit cards may seem like the most obvious documents to dispose of securely. Pay slips, old tax returns and ATM receipts on the other hand may seem less valuable to thieves. Yet together they can reveal vital information to stitch together a viable identity.

Old airline boarding passes, medical records and even junk mail contains information that can reveal enough personal information to commit fraud. Junk mail in particular often consists of credit card offers personalised to you which a criminal can activate on your behalf. Which is why it’s also a good idea to lock your mailbox.

A general rule of thumb is simply to shred all paper documents you no longer need. And, before you dispose of them, keep them in a secure location in your home or office.

Secura Bags offers the perfect document-destruction solution for individuals, families and small businesses, looking to protect themselves from the loss or theft of private data. Secura Document Bags (minimum order of two) are delivered to your premises. You simply fill them with the documents you need destroyed. We pick up the bags and transport them to one of our secure destruction facilities. All data is completely erased — our Certificate of Destruction guarantees it.

Contact Secura Bags today on 1800 985 322 to place an order or learn more about our services.

Sources:

1. Newspoll Survey 2010
2. Australian Federal Police: Identity Crime https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/crime-types/fraud/identity-crime
3. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4528.0/