Page 13 - 1911

10 Surprising Things

You Should Be Tossing in the Shredder

As a follow up to J.J.’s presentation in Octobor, here including the return envelope provided with it, or 2)
are some suggestions to what you should be putting opt out of receiving junk mail by following the instruc-
in your shredder. tions from the Federal Trade Commission

10 Surprising Things You Should Be Tossing in 8. Coupons
the Shredder
Before you work your-
Did you know that once self up into a panic over
trash is off your proper- those coupons you get
ty, it’s legal for anyone in your newspaper each
to take? Yep, it’s true. week, take a deep
That being the case, breath and relax. We’re
it’s quite easy to see not talking about those
how someone can kinds of coupons. We’re
steal another’s identity. talking about those per-
With that said, here are sonalized coupons sent
some surprising things you should shred instead of straight to you from your favorite store. Those stores
just tossing in the garbage. send them to you to determine whether or not send-

10. Prescription Labels ing you coupons gets you to make a purchase. Un-
fortunately, these coupons contain sensitive infor-
You might not think there’s anything important on a mation about you, including your name, address, and
prescription label, but you’d be mistaken to believe other personal data. TIP: If you’re not going to use
such a thing. Thieves can use the information on them, shred them.
your prescription medication bottle to refill prescrip-
tions to sell them on the black market or to feed their 7. Boarding Passes
drug habit. They can also use the information to Source:Wikimedia CommonsBy Catherine from Aus-
steal your identity. TIP: Before throwing away any tralia [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/
prescription medication bottles, take any leftover licenses/by/2.0)] Once you land, it’s best to shred
pills to a drug collection site. Then, remove the label your boarding pass. That’s because it has your
and shred it. name, travel plans, and a barcode that thieves can

9. Junk Mail use to hack your airline accounts and/or steal your
identity. Not only that, but they can use that infor-
That junk mail may be nothing more than that to you, mation to rob your home while you’re away.
but to a thief it can be a treasure trove. Credit card
offers are tempting to thieves, as they can sign up TIPS: -Shred printable confirmations and trip itinerar-
for pre-approved loans or start a line of credit in your ies, too. They also contain your account information.
name. But, it’s not just the letter inside that you need 6. Death Announcements
to worry about. What’s on that return envelope in- It’s best to shred any extra funeral pamphlets or obituaries
side can be cause for alarm as well. That’s because you don’t plan on saving. These documents are often used
junk mail return envelopes usually have a barcode by thieves to steal someone’s identity. In fact, an article
on the front that contains personally identifying infor- published by Reader’s Digest saysthat “thieves use the
mation about you. identities of millions of deceased people every year to ap-
ply for loans, open credit card accounts or file tax returns,
When it comes to junk mail, there are two things you
can do to protect yourself: 1) shred ALL junk mail, (Continued on page 14)

13