Paper shredders effective tools in battle against identity theft

Last week the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of Westbrook Senior Citizens was held at the Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church. After the business meeting was concluded and the 50-50 raffle was drawn, and just before the Guy Lombardo-sounding band started playing, Northeast COMBAT senior volunteer caseworker Rick McKinney and I spoke to nearly 100 Maine residents.

These are the folks who clearly remember the 1930s and ’40s and, sadly, the group most affected by one of the scourges of these modern times: identity theft. The program was sponsored by the new Maine Masonic College, which offers a statewide program directed at senior citizens and particularly focused on identity theft and fraud.

I asked for a show of hands as to how many of them use the Internet. Sixty to 70 hands were raised. Next, “How many are sending and receiving photographs of your grandchildren?” Perhaps 10 hands went skyward. The answer to the next question was a real shocker. “How many of you have a paper shredder?” We were all stunned when at least 90 of the 100 assembled raised their hands.

Rick then added that he did not own a shredder, but always tore his sensitive documents into small pieces and distributed them into several different wastebaskets throughout his home. Once, even after performing this strategy, he found a small piece of paper remaining that contained all of his personal data. He then took the creative step of ingesting that bit of identifying information.

Why all the fuss? Why would 90 senior citizens in the room spend their limited resources on an office device to grind big pieces of paper into confetti? Clearly these wise seniors were afraid that unscrupulous people out there would be stealing their personal information and using the information pilfered to empty their financial accounts. These are unknown and untrustworthy people who might enter their home under some false pretense and take papers off the desk or kitchen counter. There is also the person who breaks into your home while you are away. Or perhaps the garbage picker, who can find your paper gold in the trash pile set by the road for pickup. Is this threat real or imagined? Just a cursory look at articles in this newspaper will provide the sad answer.

Effective paper shredders come in many brands, sizes, prices and features. Perhaps the feature that is most important is whether the device your documents shreds in “strips” or “cross-cuts.” For maximum security, cross-cut is the correct choice. Some shredders can shred more pages at one time than others. Some are even able to shred staples and plastic credit cards. Expect to pay between $40 and $130 for a good machine.

We also encouraged our captive audience to assist those folks who were not in attendance. These are the frail, forgetful and feeble friends and relatives who truly need assistance from loved ones around them in safeguarding their identities. We imparted much information during our short program to our new friends in Westbrook, but we brought back to Bangor much more from our savvy senior audience.

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast COMBAT-Maine Center for the Public Interest, Maine’s membership-funded, nonprofit organization. For help, write to Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.