Dumpster-Diving for Your Identity

The NYT magazine has a story titled Dumpster-Diving for Your Identity - the author interviews two convicted identity thieves talking about their methods and successes.

Comments

Shredding doesn't offer much protection either...

[shakamojo]

Remind me to check my dumpster here at the office for a NYT login...

But seriously, we use a shredding company here at my office for our important papers. They're supposed to do all the shredding "on site" in their truck. Yesterday they were here to empty our shred bins, and they brought in a big trash bin to haul our stuff out to the truck. One of these bins was sitting in the hallway, and no one was around, so I took a peek inside. It was papers from an accounting firm down the street! I mean, we're supposed to be paying these guys to keep our info secure, but here they are waiting until their bin is full before they shred anything?! Needless to say, I had a long conversation with our facilities manager after this...

If you want something done right, better do it yourself! I'm now using a $30 shredder BEFORE I dump anything in our shred bins! Who knows where our important documents have been travelling to before they actually got shredded?!

This is why I burn all my important docs, credit card offers, old checks, etc... at home, who knows who is going through your trash? All they need is an account number, and a shredded document can be taped back together with enough motivation and time... (although with some people being easy marks, I guess the harder you can make it, the better!)

avoid recycling bins for financial mail

[js7a]

''It was the first time I had ever been to the dump,'' Massey recalled, wrinkling his nose. ''I said, 'I'm not going to get dirty,' so I wandered over to a shed where the recycling was stored. I notice there's a big barrel for recycled paper that's full of discarded tax forms from an accounting firm.'' Each form had the person's name, date of birth, Social Security number -- all the information necessary for taking out a line of credit.

My local police department recently published a blurb asking residents to dispose of identity theft-related materials (e.g., financial statements, anything with a SSN, etc.) in the ordinary garbage, instead of the "mixed paper" recycling bins as we've been asked by the rest of the city government.

It seems that identity thieves are very happy about the shared, clean, and portable "mixed paper" recycling containers found throughout my (rather affluent) city, and they tend to pick them up, quickly sort through the cereal and microwave dinner boxes for the good stuff, and have the container back before anyone notices.

Presumably today's dumpster divers have the luxury of avoiding coffee grounds, so you can go a long way towards protecting yourself by dumping the financial correspondence in with the smelly stuff.

The solution is easy

[Kirk Troll]

If you're so worried about ID theft, then maybe you should keep a close eye on your credit card bills, credit scores, etc.. Buy a paper shredder. Shred all bank statements and whatnot before you throw them out. Internet-shminternet, dumpster diving is the fastest way to someone's finances. Get the carbons at the gas station, or stores where they still use the old carbon-thinger credit card machine.

I knew someone who got screwed big time by a gas station who would keep the carbons, and double bill her every time she filled up, the cash going straight into the owners pocket. She was a dope for letting it go on so long, as she never bothered scrutinizing her Visa bills. Turned out the station was owned by a Russian mobster. This was long before the world wide weeb.

Just don't toss your sensitive data into the dumpster where any bum can get your CC number.

Re:The solution is easy

[Elwood P Dowd]

If you have to see the doctor, and had it billed to insurance, most likely you're Social Security Number was seen by many people.

And those people don't necessarily work for your doctor or your insurance agency. I worked as a temp for a few weeks at a medical imaging billing company. Since a doctor that works in medical imaging processes a *ton* of patients, the billing becomes a large portion of their office's work. This is (I suspect) almost always outsourced.

My first day on the job, they handed me a stack of several hundred people's names, addresses, phone numbers, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS AND MEDICAL RECORDS. This is pre-HIPAA. Dunno how it works now.

Let alone identity theft, one of the records they handed me that week was a well known elected politician's totally routine mammogram. Her results were clear. Imagine what that kind of leak could do to an election if it were not.

Obviously their entire business process needed to be completely redesigned if they wanted to provide some semblance of privacy. And you don't know if this company handles your bill or not. And such a redesign would raise their costs astronomically. It might even make them non-competitive with in-house billing. This doesn't mean it's ok, it just means it's not going to happen unless they're forced.

Obviously, I could go on and on.

Anonymous FTP

[Eberlin]

One electronic version of "dumpster diving" would be looking through a company's website/anonymous FTP server. Sometimes, a few moronic folks decide to store otherwise-vital information in these "undisclosed" locations that anyone can get into over the web.

Somewhat popular among the consulting types, they upload client data to an FTP server, then fly off to the client's office, and download it from there...or maybe use it as a means to "share" data among themselves. Some forget to password-protect it, relying instead on security through obscurity.

How is this related to dumpster diving? Well, if you look hard enough, those servers are just like public-access trash bins fit for people to...um...recycle data.

If you're a consulting group, make sure you treat your client data with absolute confidentiality. If you're a business working with consultants, make sure they don't leak your info to the world.

Compost them, don't burn them!

[wart]

Fireplaces produce too much air pollution. The ecologically correct way to dispose of these sensitive documents is to first shred them. Then mix the paper shredding into your backyard compost bin or worm bin and let nature dispose of it cleanly.

I doubt that many id theives would want to rummage through your compost bin, if they even thought to look there in the first place.

For added security, add a couple of large dogs to your backyard. They will help deter personal property thieves in addition to compost-diving identity thieves!

Re:Solution: Max Your Credit

[John Meacham]

A credit rejected letter is an identity theifs DREAM! by law, credit rejection letters contain not only pertinent stuff like your social security number, but they must give you a copy of your credit report if asked to show why you were denied. Once a thief gets your credit report it is all over. the credit report has every bank account and credit card number you own. as well as a lot of other personal info.