AVOID IDENTITY THEFT - SHRED THEM, DON’T THROW THEM

Identity theft is the crime of obtaining the personal or financial information of another person for the sole purpose of assuming that person's name or identity to make transactions or purchases. But that is not the only type of identity theft. Other more sinister types of identity theft include criminal, medical, financial and child identity theft. In criminal identity theft, a criminal misrepresents himself as another person during arrest to try to avoid a summons, prevent the discovery of a warrant issued in his real name or avoid an arrest or conviction record. In medical identity theft, someone identifies himself as another person to obtain free medical care. In financial identity theft, someone uses another person's identity or information to obtain credit, goods, services or benefits. This is the most common form of identity theft. In child identity theft the privileges and concessions that the government extends to your child for education and health can be robbed by the thief and sold for a profit. 

With government subsidies coming directly into your bank account the security of the latter becomes even more important. Synthetic identity theft is a type of fraud in which a criminal combines real (usually stolen) and fake information to create a new identity, which is used to open fraudulent accounts and make fraudulent purchases. And all this is often made possible by our carelessness or ignorance.

Many people don't know this, but the trash you have thrown out can be legally claimed by anyone who wants it, and that includes your utility bills, expired IDs, personal letters, and anything with your name and address on it. Now you might think why would anyone need any of these things? This is because your personal details, such as your name and home address, as well as your ID number or partial bank account details may be on it, and all this personal information can and is routinely exploited by scammers for all sorts of illegal purposes. In order to protect your privacy and identity, you must always run these seemingly useless papers through the shredder before throwing them out.

1. Plane or Train tickets: Both printed and virtual boarding passes to planes, trains, and other forms of transportation often contain plenty of your personal information, including your name, travel destination, and frequent flyer number, if you have one. Scammers can often use this information to log in to your frequent flyer account and see your upcoming trips or even cancel those if they want. So, always make sure to shred any paper tickets and never share files or screenshots of your virtual passes with anyone, let alone post pictures of these on social media.
2. Doctor’s prescriptions: The corporate hospital cards, OPD tickets and Discharge cards contain enough information on them for scammers to steal your identity. Your prescriptions can be misused and addictive pharmaceautical products can be purchased on them by addicts and black marketers.
3. Photocopies of PAN Card, Adhar Card, Voter ID card, Passport and Ration Card: If you have to dispose them at all always shred them. They are your passport to the virtual world. Too much information is easily available in these documents if you crumple them and throw them in the trash.
4. Bank Statements, Credit Card Statements and Corporate database reports: Even if you think that the statements have encrypted your valuable details for a professional deciphering them will not be a huge problem. Your corporate database or clinic database will give easy access to your customer / patient information records and this can make you legally liable.  
5. Receipts from Super markets and Departmental Stores: As benign as a receipt may seem, these papers often list the last digits of your card number, your signature, and other personal information that can be used to infiltrate your bank account. In addition, these documents may also give scammers the opportunity to file a return for your purchase. So if you have made a virtual payment keep the receipt safely, don’t toss it in the waste paper basket.
6. Pet’s documents: Your dog’s immunization record or the veterinarian’s receipts contain your pet's name, which is the most common password choice according to a Google Survey looking at the passwords of 2,000 participants. If your personal password doesn't match with your pet's name, throwing these in the trash without shredding is fine. 
7. Spare copy of your C.V.: Your resume is a documented history of your education and work experience, and also typically contains your address and personal details, such as your phone number and name. This is an absolute treasure trove for scammers who want to gain access to your bank account or want to steal your identity.
8. Unused invitation cards of your family wedding, engagement, annaprashan, upanayan etc: These have too many details about your family, your address, Email, phone numbers, the names of close family members, age, birthday, etc., that can be easily exploited if they get in the wrong hands.
9. Junk mails and envelopes of letters addressed to you: Junk mail, such as pre-authorized credit card offers and mail from insurance companies and lenders are a gold mine for people who want to make money on your sorrow.

In this world of online banking and the ability to do pretty much any legal action virtually, you must protect your personal details as much as you possibly can. Thus, run all your mail, every trace of your name and address through the shredder before you decide to get rid of them to prevent dire consequences.