Paper shredder-recomendation

But then they are surely not the sort of person who will succeed at the sort of 'identity theft' that will affect the 'real' person are they? OK, they may try the odd bit of pension/benefit fraud by using someone else's name but that's really not going to affect you much.

Serious identity fraud of the type that shredding these things is supposed to protect you from needs a bit of wit and also more information than you'll find on a junk mail credit card application. It's also, I believe, pretty rare.

no. they are the sort of person who will sell that information to a third party who is a little more sophisticated and which will affect a real person. letter boxes are a better bet for starting a paper trail but bins are just as effective.

not me, no. but perhaps the OP is worried about it and wants to take all precautions available to them. that /is/ what the thread is about.

believe what you like but there are organised gangs swapping drugs for paper in the same way that they are swapping drugs for goods.

I don't want to give them a shred of information. Yes, they may be able to get certain details elsewhere but I want to make it as hard as possible for them.

Who? If identity theft were as common as some people would have us believe we would probably all know a victim personally. I've yet to see any hard evidence of large scale identity theft occurring as a result of someone trawling through the bins.

Still, I suppose we're supporting the shredder industry and keeping a few people in jobs. They seem to be this years "must have" gadget.

MBQ

I know one.

anyone else ?

Yes, who?

Mary

I don't know where you live but in London I know of at least 2 cases of identity fraud with friends of friends. I've also had my bin contents lifted and my credit cards scammed twice. The last time they even had my home telephone number which they provided to the retailer! My father had his credit card scammed. When I was at my sister's flat in central London we caught a guy rifling through her bin bags - and no, he wasn't a tramp. I'm not taking any chances.

I suggest living somewhere where people don't want what you have!

Mary

that isn't very helpful, realistic /or/ nice, is it ?

The moon perhaps? ;-)

I love where I live and it's not exactly a big deal to shred some waste. I don't sit here sweating about it. It's no more than locking my door when I leave the house, just something you do without too much thought.

er- it wasn't intended to be unhelpful, unreal or nasty :-)

Mary

Everyone needs a hobby. Some root through bins, some sit shredding paper.

I do neither, Spouse shreds, I use the shredding in the compost (or as bedding for the hens then the compost), we both enjoy the produce.

Mary

yet you managed all three.

Well, if you explain why and I agree I'll apologise. I can't say better than that.

Mary

... and how does shredding circulars offering you new credit cards help prevent these things happening (though 'freinds of friends' are ubiquitous in pub stories)?

We regularly forget to lock up and sometimes even leave the key in the front door when we go out. So far nothing amiss has happened as a result.

I don't want to spend more and more of my life wasting time on 'security' which is entirely unproductive. We have cars that no one is likely to want to steal, our house is full of all sorts of things which, while useful, are not too desirable. We spend our life doing things we enjoy rather than shredding junk mail and checking on alarms.

I don't remember typing those two paragraphs ... but I must have done ... LOL

I forgot to say though that Spouse occasionally used to leave his bunch of keys in the car door overnight. Now he just forgets to click.

It's very amusing because he's paranoid about keys and cards, if I can't find mine he thinks the world will come to an end. He won't accept that it's just my memory at fault and that they're not actually lost. I've NEVER lost keys whereas he's left them all over the place.

That key fob/card insurance scheme works VERY well :-)

Mary

Thanks for your help. I decided to buy a crosscut and bought one for £15 from Tesco. As I am only a small user this model suits me fine. Operation is slick. Thanks again to all who contributed. Blair

I think we may have the same Tesco's one- black basket with silver and black 'gubbins' ?

I've had that one for about 8 months and it gets daily use. Still going now, but sounds strained on times! A good squirt of WD40 on the cutters periodically seems to help it considerably.

Tim..