 |
| Shredded
Identities More companies call in professionals to destroy documents to keep their clients' secrets |
 By
Brenda J. Buote, Globe StaffMarch 25, 2007 |
|
|
| Computer hackers. Credit card crooks. Phishing con artists. When consumers think about identity theft, most envision a glut of high-technology gadgets and gizmos stealing credit card numbers from an electronic database or gleaning financial information from Internet users who unwittingly click on a pop-up message or reply to a phishy e-mail message. Despite headline-grabbing problems such as the recent computer breach at TJX Cos. that compromised the credit- and debit-card data of millions of consumers, many identity thieves choose to go about their work the old-fashioned way, by pilfering. An estimated 50 to 70 percent of reported identity theft cases can be traced to residential trashcans and commercial dumpsters, according to the Federal Trade Commission, the agency charged with tracking such crimes. The solution -- destroy the documents -- is deceptively simple. Just ask Joseph Twichell of Wakefield, a retired general thoracic and vascular surgeon. When he closed his Stoneham office in December after 35 years in practice, he faced a behemoth of a problem: Twichell had more than 75 file boxes filled with medical records that needed to be destroyed. Each record included a face sheet with data on each patient that identity thieves would love to get their hands on: name , date of birth, and Social Security number . At first, Twichell tried to purge the documents using a commercial shredder, but he soon discovered he needed to call in the big guns to protect his patients' personal information. "The problem with most shredders is that you can only put a maximum of 10 sheets of paper in them at a time," Twichell said. " Often they overheat and shut off, so then you have to wait until they cool down. It would have taken me 10 years to shred all of my files." He opted to hire a Wilmington company to haul away the file boxes and shred the documents, turning the paper into recyclable material. It's an option more and more wary consumers and cautious business owners are turning to, in an effort to protect against dumpster divers, the brazen bandits who steal personal information by rummaging through the trash. Discarded paperwork, from job applications to medical records and canceled bank checks, offers a treasure trove of personal information that can be used to commit credit card fraud, create counterfeit checks, even secure a job or gain access to healthcare services. "When we talk about identity theft, we're not talking about someone stealing your credit card number and running up a huge bill," said Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, cochairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety. "We're talking about someone getting your Social Security number and birth date and using them to commit fraud," said the Cambridge Democrat, who represents portions of Chelsea, Everett, Revere, Saugus, and Somerville. Last year, 4,102 Massachusetts residents reported being victims of identity theft, according to figures released in February by the Federal Trade Commission. However, the number of victims is probably much higher. Federal officials estimate that only one out of every four victims notifies authorities; most choose to simply cancel compromised accounts. Nationwide, more than 9 million people are victimized each year, according to FTC spokeswoman Claudia Bourne Farrell. One of the most widely publicized cases of dumpster-diving occurred in December, when the financial records of more than 80 Major League Baseball players were plucked from a trash bin outside their agent's Chicago office. It's not clear whether the crook -- who made off with tax documents, investment portfolios, and credit reports -- was able to gain anything of value from the stolen information, police said. "Most of the time, victims aren't aware that their identity has been stolen until it's too late, until after their credit history or good name has been ruined," said Barrios, adding that there are no state laws in Massachusetts to protect consumers before a theft has occurred. Existing federal law is woefully inadequate, providing only a 90-day security freeze on victims' credit reports, he said. Such a freeze blocks would-be thieves from obtaining credit in the victim's name. Barrios said that he and Representative Michael A. Costello, a Newburyport Democrat and cochairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety, are calling on Beacon Hill lawmakers to pass "responsible identity-theft legislation that gives consumers real protections, before we all become victims." In the meantime, a growing number of area companies are taking a hard look at the way they handle sensitive records. Gone are the days when unwanted credit card offers and superfluous strategic-planning documents went into the trash. Strict regulations and concerns about privacy protection prompt some consumers and business executives to turn to shredding to protect against corporate espionage and identity theft. Many are choosing to hire companies that shred documents on site, moving them in a sealed storage bin to a mobile shredding unit, without ever opening the container, rather than relying on a third party to truck the confidential information elsewhere to be destroyed. "Corporate espionage is a real concern," said Jason Mello, president of Universal Shredding LLC, a document-destruction company based in Georgetown. "Identity theft not only ruins personal credit ratings; it also threatens to destroy business reputations and security." Launched in August, Universal Shredding, a subsidiary of G. Mello Disposal Corp., is the first company in the Globe North region to offer on-site document destruction, a process that Mello and his clients said saves companies time and money, while helping to preserve the public trust. "Years ago, we had bins that we would just dump all of our documents in, and then a contractor would come and pick them up to be shredded," said Linda Mirasolo, office manager for DarwinSuzsoft, a leading provider of information technology and communication services. "Things would pile up, and the cleaners or anyone who would come in could access the documents," she said. "Having a company do all of the shredding on site gives us peace of mind." The Wakefield firm works closely with computer specialists in China and prides itself on providing secure IT services to financial services companies and insurance firms in the United States, so protecting documents is key to maintaining their clients' trust. Documents are now stored in locked bins until the mobile shredding unit makes its rounds, Mirasolo said. "We're in a service industry. We don't want our competitors to see what we're doing and how we do it." At Georgetown Savings Bank, president Bob Balletto said that hiring Universal Shredding to destroy its sensitive records in the bank parking lot -- everything from confidential computer reports to corporate planning documents -- has not only improved security, but it has also helped free up staff. "In the past, we employed a part-time employee whose sole responsibility was to shred documents," Balletto said. "At the salaries and benefits companies pay these days, it's not productive to have employees spend time on shredding. We'd rather our employees focus on other banking business." Brenda J. Buote can be reached at bbuote@globe.com. © Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company |