Community Chat

[Mominohio]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@MsCatLuver.   I have the same garbage situation as you and have often wondered what sort of possibility there is that someone would pick my garbage can from the dozens on the street overnight and stand there with a flashlight rummaging through it.  Never even heard of it happening.  Still, I'm not going to put out anything with financial, prescription or other personal information on it.

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I'm guessing people actually doing it at the curb might not be the highest chance, but more after it leaves your sight. Trash people, those in the facilities that process the garbage, at the landfill or even just blowing away should the information come loose from the trash in any of the process of getting it into a landfill or wherever it goes. Lots of eyes and hands that probably handle that garbage before it is buried or destroyed. 

[depglass]

DH scoffs at my efforts to secure our information.  I just tell myself one thing, if and when something happens, I will be the one to straighten it out, not him. He is clueless.

[San Antonio Gal]

I have been a member of a credit monitoring company for several years.  I get "alerts" sent for activity in my report along with monthly reports for all 3 credit bureaus.  I consider it a small fee to pay for peace of mind. 

[Mominohio]

Not to hijack the thread but on a related note, people have no idea how their information is often mishandled by the companies they deal with. I know this has no direct connection to your shredding what is in your possession, just a reminder about how you don't know who is seeing and handling your confidential info.

I have a friend that works for a company that is contracted by AT&T for tech support and other services at a local call center. In the past, they caught employees taking sensitive information out of the building, via writing it down on paper, or photographing the screens with their phones. They have tried to combat that with the elimination of phones in the cubicle and the employees are no longer allowed access to any paper or pens/pencils in the workplace.

I used to work for some friends who had a business doing medical billing for various physicians in the area. We brought our work out of the office (we were strictly work at home) and to our homes to process, then return. 

We had people caught with sensitive HIPPA protected papers laying in their cars uncovered for anyone to look in and see, while the car was unattended in public areas. We had the possibility to loose papers in the transporting back and forth. And with that information in our homes, there was always the potential of taking that information which included access to SS numbers, addresses, insurance information, and health information, and mishandling them, or not disposing of them properly (one girl didn't know she couldn't throw away work related papers at home but needed to bring them back to work for shredding).

So any information not under your control, especially in the paper form, can be mishandled either as just carelessness or for nefarious reasons.

[sidsmom]

I would continue to shred, if possible.

If the volume is daunting, just tear off the name, address,

account number, prescription number or any other identifying

information....and shred that small amount of paper. 

If you’re in a large city, maybe look for community shredding

events where reputable shredding companies, like Iron Mountain,

will shred confidential documents free of charge, on site.

[Alison Wonderland]

At my last apartment complex, I found a man going through the dumpster looking for electronics and appliances people threw out that he could maybe repair and use or sell. I was spring cleaning, getting rid of a lot of things, and came across him holding one of my discarded items, something I'd just tossed into the dumpster 10 minutes earlier. I had no issues with him looking for items he could repair and sell, but you never know what someone might be pulling out of the trash or what they are going to be doing with it.

[CelticCrafter]

I shred everything, even junk addressed to resident.  I will rip the labels off magazines and catalogs and go through catalog to tear out the order form if it has my name and address on it.

[sweetee2]

Where the all started was people throwing mail into the recycle pile and at the recycle plant the people there were stealing the information.

I've been shredding anything with our information on for years.

So guess where I had my information stolen from.  RED BOX. Someone standing close enough to read my card with a device in his pocket. They had made a fake card and was using it with in hours.

Thank goodness we have Life Lock. They call me to ask if I was using it at a store I  never go to, I said no and they stopped it .

[Phantom41]

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@Carol08 wrote:

I put my personal information in with cat litter (used, of course), if I don't have a shredder available.  I cut the personal papers into little pieces.....

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My trash goes in a bag full of dirty cat litter also!  If someone wants to dig through that, more power to them.  Like I've said, they can sit in the comfort of their own home on a computer and find anything anymore.  No need to dumpster dive and get dirty.

[CelticCrafter]

@Phantom41 @ @Carol08 - when I had to clear out my parents house to get it ready to sell I would go down the night before to put the trash out for the next day pick.

One day I had a neighbor tell me that the bags were being opened and gone through and a mess would be left at the curb.

I finally had to save the used cat litter from here - I know eeewww - take it with me and dump it in on top of the filled bags.  I would leave a note on the very top of the stuff that it contained animal waste and to tie the bags back up and be on your merry way!  It stopped.