Unfortunately, far too few people know the extent of identity theft here in the United States, a type of crime that has grown to be all too prominent over the course of recent years. As a matter of fact, more than 16.5 billion cases of identity theft were reported throughout the singular year of 2017 alone. In the few years that have transpired since, this problem has only become more and more pronounced.
Fortunately, there are a number of steps that can be taken to reduce identity theft – or at least mitigate the risk that it will happen to you. For one thing, taking close notice of any changes made with your credit and debit cards and any funds withdrawn from your bank account is a hugely important thing. Not only can taking these steps help to ensure that you manage your money better, they can also help to ensure that you notice any changes made to your accounts without your permission – catching identity theft early. And when identity theft is caught early, it is much less likely to have a profound impact on your life both in the present as well as in the future. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many, as very nearly one quarter of all people actually only find out that they have become a victim of identity theft by sheer mistake. By this point, a good deal of extensive damage has likely already been done.
Of course, there are also steps to help identity theft from eve occurring in the first place. For instance, utilizing companies that have a strong process to protect their customers from identity breaches and theft is ideal. When handling important personal information, it is a good idea for these companies to utilize something like a high capacity shredder for secure paper shredding. A high capacity shredder such as an industrial office shredder can allow for level 6 shredding, something that will help to make sure that no customer’s identity is breached in any way. Investing in a high capacity shredder will certainly also be good for business, thanks to the fact that as much as 40% of any customer base would no longer utilize the services offered from a specific company if that company had a breach in security. The use of a high capacity shredder can help to prevent such a problem from ever happening in the first place.
Aside from the high capacity shredder, there are many of other paper shredding devices that can be utilized. After all, a smaller secure paper shredder is likely to be more ideal for personal use than the high capacity shredder that you might see in an office or industrial setting. Secure paper shredders on a smaller scale can help people dispose of their individual documents in a safe and effective way, something that nearly one third of all people, unfortunately, do not do (in fact, nearly half of all people say that at least some of their habits set them for a higher risk of identity theft). But having a small scale paper shredding device in your home can help to protect your identity just as much as the typical high capacity shredder would, so long as you use it regularly.
Managing your online risk is also hugely important, and only becoming more so as time passes on. After all, more and more people are using the internet more and more frequently, of this there is no doubt. In fact, there are now very nearly four billion internet users found throughout the world – more than half of the world’s total population. Therefore, the potential for cyber crime has increased significantly over the course of recent years. Fortunately, up to half of all people are taking the necessary precautions and protecting their information by not giving it away on platforms that they deem to be less than secure.
At the end of the day, the potential for identity theft and such breaches in security can be a frightening thing. Fortunately, there are many things we can all do to mitigate our risk factors for this crime.