S.Atlantic : Identity Theft and the Wheelie Bin
Submitted by SARTMA.com (Juanita Brock) 14.10.2006 (Article Archived on 28.10.2006)
What's in your wheelie bin can say volumes about who you are. Read on to find out what you can do to stop the flow of information.
Photo (c) J. Brock (FINN) - The method may be unusual but it's as good as the most expensive shredders.
IDENTITY THEFT AND THE WHEELIE BIN
Add Bleach!
By J. Brock (FINN)
Living in a small community in many ways is a blessing in that a person is known and others operating as them would soon be detected. However, this does not prevent people operating as you outside the Falklands – providing they obtain your personal information like your bank account number and other personal details. Besides identity thieves, stalkers also can use the information, using it for their purposes.
There are volumes of material about not giving out your banking details over the phone or not answering suspect e-mails but fewer articles are written about what you put in the wheelie bin after the items are no longer needed. Garbage you throw out can tell a lot about you. This article gives an alternative way to process your trash so that it cannot be identified as yours by opportunists.
If someone really is determined to get your identity they will have to work hard for it. Usually record searches and tailing people in a small community will trigger alarm bells. Identity theft is a crime, and this drives thieves to more clandestine methods.
What are opportunists looking for?
If someone wants to trawl through your trash to get your bank account number then you know not to throw out any paper with the number on it. Opportunists, if they are regular visitors, can find out what you are paying for your groceries and other household and/or office items. Even if you don’t throw away your receipts the price tags on wrappings can be toted up. Added to this any regular visitor can see trends in what you are buying and how much of any item you purchase. If you are prompt at throwing out items they can also detect an approximate date of purchase. From this information any good computer model can predict how much the occupant of a property is earning.
Personal trash like copies of e-mails and letters as well as notebooks and even doodles can be key indicators to a person’s identity. Your handwriting can also tell an opportunist about you. Discarded envelopes can give an opportunist the identity of many who send you mail. Finally, it’s easy to blow your nose or cut yourself and throw the tissue and/or plaster into the bin – providing a free DNA sample for the opportunist.
How can rubbish be processed to prevent identity theft from the wheelie bin?
1. Recycle whenever possible. If there is a recycling plant for glass, plastic, and thick cardboard and newspaper as well as magazines, use it. Remove any address labels or any information that would identify the bulk paper with you and use the facility.
2. If you can, remove labels from bottles and plastic containers and destroy them with the rest of your personal trash.
3. Put all your DNA samples down the loo. If they are un-flushable, soak them in either bleach or biological soap overnight and dispose in the trash.
4. In an ideal world a proper shredder with a narrow enough rendering would do the trick. However, a good way to get rid of volumes of shredded paper is burning but – and it’s a big one – some communities have regulations about burning and this may not always be practical. Besides, proper shredders can be very expensive items but read on, the following point can be of use if you want to destroy your paper trash at minimal expense.
5. Have a look in your kitchen to find a utility that works as well as the most sophisticated shredder. Your paper waste can be processed in a matter of minutes then safely put in the wheelie bin. It’s known as the – blender – and its use will pulverise paper with your handwriting and personal information on it.
From blender to wheelie bin in a few short minutes:
- Prepare your paper by either cutting it up or using a small hand shredder.
- Once small enough the paper can be put into the blender.
- Fill the blender to the half way mark with water.
- Add ¼ cup of bleach or disinfectant.
- Turn on the blender and pulverise until creamy and all one colour – about 1.5 minutes.
- Place the pulp into freezer bags (they are waterproof) secure the bag and place in the wheelie bin.
Bleach?
There is a two-fold reason for disinfecting the blender as well as the paper. If the blender is also used for processing food, the reason is obvious. The other reason is to protect the poor sod hired on to pick through to the pulp to find any shred of information he or she can. It’s probably not the person who is seeking your identity that goes through the pulp but a person who needs the money and has a family to feed, etc. Not on my watch I say! If they are going to get ill from the work they do, let it be someone else’s identity that does the dirty.
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