In today’s world, we release our personal information to numerous companies and websites as we conduct daily business. While interacting with businesses we trust, we give up phone numbers, social insurance numbers, addresses, bank account information and other personal identification. Unfortunately, this makes businesses and individuals alike vulnerable to identity theft.
In 2009, 17,000 people were victims of identity theft with over $13 million dollars stolen. A big source of personal information that thieves have access to is the trash can or dumpster. Companies throw away large quantities of files and documents each day that can potentially fall into the wrong hands. Would-be thieves can spend or transfer large amounts of money from your bank account and get access to private company files with stolen information. Document destruction provided by a reputable company is a simple solution to this problem and can significantly cut the risk of having personal information stolen. This service can be completed on site while you watch or the documents can be taken to the company’s secure facility to be destroyed.
There are many benefits to having a third party destroy sensitive documents for you or your business. If you live in southern Ontario, we recommend Absolute Destruction mobile shredding services for their professionalism, reputation, and longevity. One benefit of using their service is increased legal protection. A large amount of all identity theft reports include government documents and benefits fraud. When having a separate company destroy sensitive or outdated documents for you, the risk of an identity thief having access to private information is slim. You decrease the risk of someone applying for government benefits in your name or committing fraud using your information. These types of identity theft put you at risk for legal action and can ruin your credit. On average, identity theft victims spend 600 hours recovering from these crimes. Many document shredding companies destroy documents for dozens of clients at once, with all the waste being discarded together. This decreases the risk of thieves putting documents back together by searching through dumpsters for shredded documents.
Another benefit to outsourcing your document destruction is saving time. When hiring an outside company to perform this task for you, you will not have to divert time and employee power away from other important tasks. Companies that perform document destruction as a service have the necessary equipment needed to shred large amounts of documents in minutes. This also means that you will not have to spend hours standing in front of an office shredder that is constantly jamming and only shreds a few sheets at a time at best.
Many third party document shredding companies also offer recycling services and electronic data destruction. Document shredding is a better option for the environment than dumping whole documents in landfills. Shredded documents can be recycled and used in new products, which reduces the amount of waste in landfills and reduces the amount of new trees needed for paper products. And if your company does not use much paper, electronic data destruction reduces the risk of information being stolen from old computers or devices.