Torn-up Credit Card Apps Not So Safe

Maximum Prophet writes "This dude tears up a credit card application, tapes it back together, sends it in with his cell phone number and father's address, and voila, gets a credit card. Who would have thought security at a credit card company was so lax? The company recommends that consumers "tear up" financial solicitations before throwing them away, "so thieves can't use them to assume your identity.", but according to them, "Applications that arrive in damaged form are customarily transferred to an electronic format, he said -- often by machine. So it's possible a human being never handled the taped-up application and never had the chance to spot the obvious sign of trouble." In this era where we worry so much about identity theft, this sort of thing really makes you wonder what the point really is.

Comments

Re:shred shred shred

[smooth wombat]

If for some reason you're fire averse a pair of scissors properly applied for about 10 seconds will prove sufficient to defeat the roll of tape.

You'd think so, wouldn't you. However, you might want to read this story about the Iranian students in 1979.

First three sentences of the fourth paragraph:

This was the situation up until November 1979 when Iranian students seized an entire archive of CIA and State Department documents, which represented one of the most extensive losses of secret data in the history of any modern intelligence service. Even though many of these documents were shredded into thin strips before the Embassy, and CIA base, was surrendered, the Iranians managed to piece them back together. They were then published in 1982 in 54 volumes under the title "Documents From the U.S. Espionage Den", and are sold in the United States for $246.50.

This particular story didn't say so but I read elsewhere that the students laid out the shredded documents on the floor of gymnasiums and pieced the documents back together.

Re:Solution!

[garcia]

One of these days, a thief is going to raid my mailbox before I get home and get a credit card in my name.

Last summer I had a notice in my mailbox from the Postmaster that stated there were reports of mail theft in our neighborhood and that we should be watching closely for ID theft.

My wife is concerned with throwing mail away and the thieves getting it there. Why would they bother to go through my trash and get dirty when they can get it fresh from my mailbox w/no one the wiser.

gymnasium and scotch tape no longer required

[Comboman]

This particular story didn't say so but I read elsewhere that the students laid out the shredded documents on the floor of gymnasiums and pieced the documents back together.

The technology now exists to scan fragments of documents en-mass and piece them together semi-automatically in electronic format. Some human interaction is still required, but it is much faster and easier than the Iranian effort. This is being done to restore ancient manuscripts but I'm sure it's being done in the covert and criminal fields as well with shreded documents.