Half our bins are goldmines for ID fraudsters

Goldmine: Most dustbins contain information vital to identity thieves
13 April 2012

Nearly half of household rubbish bins contain all the information a fraudster needs to steal a person's identity, a survey found today.

Experts examined rubbish raided from bins in a south London street and found 97 per cent regularly throw away paper carrying their name and address.

Extrapolated across the country it would amount to 21 million homes, said the research commissioned by document shredder manufacturer Fellowes.

The investigation revealed 48 per cent of households had thrown away all the information criminals require to carry out identity fraud.

One in three had binned their full credit or debit card number and 46 per cent had thrown away an item containing their full bank account details.

Fellowes spokesman Tyron Hill said: "People spend thousands of pounds protecting their homes against burglary from top of the range locks to lighting systems and alarms.

"However, this research shows that virtually everyone in the country is literally handing over their identity to bin raiders.

"Your identity is the most important thing you have and people have got to stop being so complacent and must start to put up a fight against identity fraud."

The results were published to mark the beginning of National Identity Fraud Prevention Week.

The campaign has set up a dedicated website www.stop-idfraud.co.uk and a freephone number on 0800 1810 1810 to give advice.

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