Shredder

It’s a scary thought, but consumer fraud and identity theft are the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. today, and they can affect every single one of us.

In 2004 alone, Consumer Sentinel, the complaint database developed and maintained by the FTC, received over 635,000 consumer fraud and identity theft complaints. Consumers reported losses from fraud of more than $547 million. A great deal of these crimes could have been prevented if the confidential information had been destroyed (i.e. shredded) before it was discarded.

The most commonly used method to destroy unwanted sensitive information is to use a shredder to shred the source of information.