I spotted the following statement this morning:
A paper trail is an identity thief’s best friend.
I was no where near a fortune cookie. Really. This statement appeared on the back side of an envelope from a financial institution, who was pushing sign ups for electronic statements. The institution even suggested that we can all “rest easy knowing all [our] account information is locked away safely online. Yes, paper statements are not secure, that’s why we shred them after we no longer need them. And, paper statements may also be intercepted while in transit. However, skimming paper statements is not scaleable. That’s why identity thieves target online databases. So, instead of obtaining account information on one person, these thieves can obtain account information from millions of people. I’m not confident that any information can be locked away safely online.
2 replies on “Identity Theft”
There are no guarantees against identity theft. Identity theft may be perpetrated by anyone.
Online records are as vulnerable as they are on paper. But I’m more inclined to think that paper is relatively safer.