On-Site Shredding Services in Georgia – Seeing What the Criminal Sees (Part Two of a Two Part Series)

In this second part of our two part series, we look at the Planning and Execution Phases of identity theft and how a reliable on-site shredding service in Georgia can easily prevent the crime.

3. Planning Phase…  If a criminal can identify un-shredded paper waste and he/she has noted that there is an ease of access to it, then there is a high likelihood that it may contain valuable personal information.  The criminal now plans his/her next step to acquire this paper waste, and at this point the crime is difficult to avert.  If, however, you had hired a on-site shredding service in GA, the criminal would mostly likely have been deterred in the surveillance phase.

4. Execution Phase…  Once a workable plan is in place, the criminal goes to work and begins to acquire the document waste.  Back in the security of his/her home base, they sift through the rubbish and look for any piece of information that could be attached to an identity.  Examples of this could include (but are definitely not limited to) old W4 documents filled out upon hiring, employee contact lists or any personal contact information – even a list of employee names is extremely helpful to the criminal.  This deserves an additional point here.  Some people think that a name by itself in a company’s trash is unimportant, but in reality, it’s not just a name by itself.  The criminal now knows where that person works!  This is a valuable piece of information when applying for certain types of credit cards, loans, etc…  This execution phase can persist for a significant period of time.  There might be multiple times that the document waste is taken in order to put enough pieces of information together.  In addition, with certain nuggets of information the criminal can turn to other avenues of approach.  For example, with an employee’s name, the criminal could impersonate a state or federal worker and contact the company with the goal of gaining additional pieces of personal information.  It is exactly instances like this, which advocate for companies adopting a 100% shredding policy with their on-site shredding services in GA.  Although this may increase cost, it takes the judgment out of which documents need to be shredded.  All documents, no matter how innocuous are placed in the shredding storage bins and shredded by the on-site shredding service in Georgia.

5. Execution Phase Continued… Once the criminal has a few key pieces of information from your company and others he/she begins to set up an alternate identity and acquire credit cards or other types of loans in that person’s name.  Once the crime is discovered, and that can be weeks, months or even years later, it can take many months to correct the damage – sometimes years!  The credit reporting agencies and banking and loan institutions have gotten better about addressing identity theft, but the time taken to resolve the issue can be tremendous, time that could have been saved had your company employed a reputable on-site shredding service in GA.

Hopefully, after examining the process a criminal can take when trying to steal someone’s identity through exploiting sensitive document waste, you see the value in hiring an on-site shredding service in GA.  The criminals don’t need to get all the pieces of information they need in one place, and documents you may consider safe for the trash, such as a basic employee roster, can be tremendously helpful to the criminal.  A quality on-site shredding service in Georgia will work you as you evaluate your document management needs and see what type of shredding program works best for you.