Home Paper Shredder.

One of the most prevalent crimes of the modern world is identity theft. These days criminals rarely rush into a bank shouting “This is a stick up!”

There are easier, more productive crimes. Stealing your identity is one of them. By using your personal information thieves can create a clone of . . .you.

They can then open up a bank account in your name, recreate your credit card or apply for a credit card in your name, take out a loan, a driver's license (with their picture, but in your name,) file a dishonest tax return in your name, set up electronic transfers in your name, and bleed your bank account dry.

Home paper shredders have given the private citizen the ability to shred sensitive documents, and with the rise of identity theft that is a very good thing.

Often some of the monetary loss is borne by the financial institution concerned, once it is established that you are a victim of identity theft. But financial loss is not the only outcome of having your identity stolen. It can sometimes take years for you to clear your name.

Identity fraud is not something that only happens to other people, it is a very real danger. Be very careful about the information about yourself that you throw in the trash.

Thieves do hunt through your trash, at your home or at public trash dumps looking for items of information.

Think of all the pieces of paper that are likely to be around your home and the information they contain: Credit card bills, charge card bills, electric, gas, water, phone, Internet, cable television bills, ATM receipts, bank statements, pay check stubs, credit reports, canceled checks, investment documents, tax forms, expired drivers licenses, employment records, pre-approved credit applications, ID cards, medical records, dental records, expired passports, expired visas. All these, and more, contain information that identity thieves would love to get their hands on.

You will also not want to throw out, without first running them through your home paper shredder: Receipts showing checking account numbers, any paper showing your social security number, documents containing your signature, documents concerning stock, bonds or property transactions.

Rummaging through your trash is not the only way criminals can obtain the information they need to clone you – but it is one method they use. It makes sense to shred all sensitive documents that you throw out.

It is worthwhile spending a little time thinking which type of home paper shredder will best suit your needs. Shredders are reasonably priced these days but there are considerations other than cost.

Strip Cut Shredders. Strip cut shredders are generally the lowest priced but, as their name suggests, these machines shred paper in to strips. It should be kept in mind that it is possible for a criminal to piece together the strips and recreate the document, time consuming but can be done. Depending on how the paper is fed into the shredder a whole sentence may be on one strip.

To make it more difficult to reconstruct a shredded document you can shred three or four insignificant papers along with the sensitive one. This does not, of course, make reconstruction impossible.

Cross Cut Shredders. These shredding machines cut the paper both ways creating very small, squares or diamonds. Needless to say, these confetti pieces are extremely difficult to put back together. The time that it would take the thief is probably more than he would consider worthwhile for a personal document. Thus a cross cut home paper shredder would be the better investment.

There are other types of shredder, some pound paper through a small gage mesh others grind the paper up until it is small enough to pass through a screen. But these machines are more than the typical home user needs.

Capacity and Speed. You will probably find the ability to shred six or so sheets at the same time useful but, unless you are running a home business, more than that is not necessary. The same with capacity, a home paper shredder need not be too large. Some shredders cut out, in order to cool off, after shredding a certain number of documents. Again this should not be a problem for the home user.

Paper shredders were once quite costly pieces of equipment and only used in offices. Home paper shredders have given the private citizen the ability to shred sensitive documents, and with the rise of identity theft that is a very good thing.

Find a Home Paper Shredder at Amazon.com

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