When we think about identity theft, most of us picture someone we don’t know stealing our information from our mailbox or an online source or a faceless person hacking an entire system and gaining access to personal information.
What if this faceless, unknown person was someone you knew or even someone who lives in your house?
“Familiar fraud" occurs when a friend, extended family member or even a spouse, child or parent uses a close relationship for his or her own financial gain.”
Identity thieves stole almost $17 billion in 2017. Although this figure is an unfathomable amount for most of us, it is merely the amount of actual money stolen and doesn’t take into consideration things like “time spent resolving identity theft issues and the emotional and psychological stresses caused by identity theft.”
“Since 2003, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has been surveying victims of identity theft to understand things like how long it takes them to find out they're a victim, what they experience, how long it takes them to fix the issues caused by identity theft and how much money it costs them to recover.
“Nearly 60 million Americans have been affected by identity theft, according to a 2018 online survey by The Harris Poll. That same survey indicates nearly 15 million consumers experienced identity theft in 2017.”
Other staggering statistics about the growing problem of identity theft are below.
Check stubs, bank statements, account numbers, and actually any documents with personal information such as social security numbers or sensitive medical information on them.
What do these have in common? Every one of them could be used by identity thieves and should be disposed of by shredding.
Although shredding or destroying sensitive documents has been around for decades, the necessity of shredding or having a professional document destruction service has gained popularity in the past few decades.
“As well as size and capacity, shredders are classified according to the method they use and the size and shape of the shreds they produce.
When we think about identity theft, most of us picture someone we don’t know stealing our information from our mailbox or an online source or a faceless person hacking an entire system and gaining access to personal information. 
Identity thieves stole almost $17 billion in 2017. Although this figure is an unfathomable amount for most of us, it is merely the amount of actual money stolen and doesn’t take into consideration things like “time spent resolving identity theft issues and the emotional and psychological stresses caused by identity theft.” 
“Nearly 60 million Americans have been affected by identity theft, according to a 2018 online survey by The Harris Poll. That same survey indicates nearly 15 million consumers experienced identity theft in 2017.” 
Although shredding or destroying sensitive documents has been around for decades, the necessity of shredding or having a professional document destruction service has gained popularity in the past few decades. 
