We are all aware of computer hacking to steal personal information but dumpster diving provides almost as much access to your personal banking information if you are not careful. Routinely banks, credit card companies, and merchants mail out promotional information that contains customer names, addresses, and account numbers, and my personal pet peeve blank checks to draw money from credit cards. Many of us dutifully rip out that information and shred it when we recycle the rest of the useless paper flooding our mailboxes. However, there is often another page inside catalogues or solicitations from charities in the hopes by reprinting your name, address, and account number inside the solicitation or catalogue you will be more inclined to mail a check. Many of us overlook this information and throw the papers into the recycling.
Congress passed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT), which resulted in credit institutions developing regulations and guidelines regarding the detection, prevention and mitigation of identity theft in connection with the opening of a new account or any existing covered account. However these protections are only for information stored within the business.
I am beginning a process to draft an amendment to the FACT Act to prevent any merchant, bank, credit card company from including personal identifying information on more than one location in an unsolicited mailing. I look forward to finding Congressional sponsors willing to promote further protection of our personal information. It will take time to get such an amendment through Congress but it can help many Americans prevent their personal information from being taken because it was overlooked in the trash or recycling bin.
Until such time as we can clamp down on the spread of our personal information, I encourage everyone to shred, shred, shred, all your personal identifiers on your junk mail. Because it is hard to find the time to shred, I usually accumulate it and have my children shred, or take it to a shredding event like the Coronado Woman’s Club event this Saturday, July 17th in the Union Bank Parking Lot from 9:00-12:00. For $7.00 a box or bag they will shred and properly recycle a box or bag of paper that needs to be shredded. Since many of us keep our garbage and recycling bins out in alleys where the contents are easily accessible, let’s keep our personal information out of the trash.
