Can Document Destruction Help Keep You And Your Business Safe?
March 06, 2015
As a matter of fact, document shredding can help keep you and your business safe from the effects of identity theft, credit card fraud, license fraud, finance fraud, application fraud, and the likes security risks. These potential frauds are all perpetrated using documents that you and your business are responsible for safely destroying. Here are the consequences of not properly destroying your documents in details.
1. Credit card fraud:
This fraud is carried out using identities that have been stolen by identity thieves. To successfully achieve their goal, identity thieves normally change the billing address for an existing credit card making it impossible for the victim to receive the bills and statements show the account’s activities. Having done so, they make use of the card to rack up enormous charges on it.
2. Application frauds:
Some creative identity thieves make use of stolen ID cards or even driver’s licenses to apply for jobs and reference the victim’s business related web accounts such as LinkedIn as if they have the victims’ work skills or history. Not only this, they in the same way apply for internet, telephone, electricity, sometimes even apartments using the victim name.
3. Finance fraud:
Finance fraud simply means opening a new bank account, then taking out a significant loan, or bouncing a number of gigantic checks and then leaving the victim to clean up the mess. This is one of the most common frauds frequently carried out by identity thieves today as it is quite easy to carry out banking and other finance related activities entirely online.
4. License fraud:
Though this is a rare fraud, when carried out, the results are often dangerous as the perpetuator uses the victim’s Social Security Number to get things such as a driver’s license for himself, but using their picture. From here, the identity thief proceeds to secure any number of government benefits using the victim’s name. Worse still, the criminal commits a crime and then identify himself as you, skip out on their court date, or post bail or end up getting a warrant put out for the victim’s arrest.
The easiest way to avoid getting caught up in the about listed situations is to make sure that all unwanted documents in your possession or in your office are properly destroyed. Allowing someone to steal your identity because you are trying to save some money on your document handling practices can lead to all sorts of unwarranted problems. And the amounts of money it cost to rectify these issues is usually extraordinarily high, and if the victim has the slightest inclination that the theft can be traced back to your business, then all the costs can be pinned on you or your business in a court of law. You don’t want this, do you?
So it is far better to hire the services of a professional shredder from day one to take care of the unwanted or no longer needed documents in your business. If you can’t avail yourself during the document destruction process, then have a trusted employee to represent you. This way, you can be assured that all of your private and secret information has been diligently destroyed prior to it exposing you to the above mentioned frauds and vulnerabilities.
Is safe and secure destruction of sensitive data service limited to one particular business or industry?
No, it isn’t as all types of business and industries greatly benefit from safe and secure destruction of their private and confidential data. Here are some of the industries that greatly benefit from hiring professional document destruction services to take care of their unwanted documents.
• Business and office: Offices and businesses of all sizes are the core foundation of industrial record shredding as they generate huge amounts of records each day of the year. The regular influx of documents that sometimes contain sensitive personal info demand that companies or offices to not only safeguard the data but also to properly destroy and dispose it off and in a most convenient and cost-effective manner though the use of reputable business shredding services.
• Legal and financial: Ineffective disposal of documents in this area can leave the victim susceptible to corporate fraud, identity theft, and so forth, making legal document shredding something of a paramount importance.
• Healthcare and medical: Medical and healthcare records contain very sensitive, private and confidential personal information. To help maintain the ultimate level of privacy for the patient, doctors and other healthcare personnel make use of professional medical record shredding service to destroy and then discard the sensitive data as they do so with utmost diligence and care.
• Other sectors in the industry that can greatly benefit from industrial record shredding services include the educational sector and home or residential based offices.
Before hiring a professional document shredding service, it is recommended to first determine your unique data shredding goals and needs for best of results. By so doing, you are assured of the safety and security of your documents.
