One of the greatest risks for identity theft is the amount of paper with your personal information on it. Americans receive 4.5 million tons of junk mail annually – 44 percent of that is never opened! Junk mail alone can lead to someone opening an account in your name or someone using it to access existing accounts. When mail and other documents end up in the trash, they become very susceptible to falling into the wrong hands.
Here are some tips to help deter identity theft by reducing your paper trail:
- Shred all documents, mail, cards, etc. prior to putting in the trash.
- Leverage online statements and paperless options to reduce your information in the mail.
- Go to optoutprescreen.com to reduce preapproved credit card offers.
If you’d like to talk more about what you can do to help prevent identity theft, please feel free to reach out to me.