subject: Lazy Identity Thieves Are Looking For Your Old Credit Cards [print this page] Identity theft is a growing crime world wide to such a degree an entire industry has sprung up around its prevention. A shredder used to be reserved for top secret government documents but now is standard fare at any office supply store. An entire product line has sprung up around the idea that muggers no longer spring out from darkened alleys to steal your wallet or purse but rather go through your trash looking for receipts. In the new age of getting your checking account stolen or credit card numbers compromised how do you protect yourself? Can you protect yourself or is it just inevitable and all we can do is minimize the damage?
The good news is identity theft is preventable through simple steps anyone can take. The bad news is we are usually our own worst enemies when it comes to preventing identity theft. Thieves are not the most industrious of people. They look for simple, easy ways to get what they want, and what they want is your credit card number. The amount of time varies from bank to bank but what is certain is that eventually you will be issued a new credit card and have to dispose of the old card. Lazy people who just toss it in the trash will one day wake up with several maxed out credit cards, and empty bank account, and shops across town banging on their door to get paid for purchases that person never made. If you will spend just a few minutes to dispose of your old credit cards properly these nightmare scenarios need never happen to you.
Many people believe simply cutting up an old card into four or five pieces is enough to prevent its use. However, with modern magnetic technology in the state its in that may not be enough. An industrious thief can piece the card together and get not only the complete strip but the full number and security code from the back. The number and code are all the thief needs to purchase things on line or establish accounts. Further cutting the magnetic strip lengthwise before cutting it into pieces can help, but the surest way to dispose of your old credit cards is to take one or two pieces of the cut up numbers and dispose of them in a separate trash receptacle at a separate location. This step ensure no matter how industrious the thief he or she simply cannot find all the pieces of the card and thus cannot use it.
Identity thieves are out hunting easy prey. They look for intact receipts as one source but an old credit card is the holy grail of identity theft. Dont make their task easier by tossing your old cards in the trash. Shred those old credit and debit cards disposing of some portion in a separate location and you can sleep better knowing you are not the easy prey others are for lazy identity thieves.
