I lost my watch this past weekend. Years ago, losing a watch would simply mean the loss of a piece of jewelry and the ability to tell time. Losing a watch in 2017 means potentially having your banking information exposed, as well as all your contact information. Needless to say, I felt sick as I searched for it. In the end, I couldn’t find it and had to remotely wipe it clean because identity theft scares the heck out of me.
If you’re not afraid of identity theft, you should be. Once a criminal has stolen your identity they can do much more damage than just racking up your credit card. Identity thieves can commit crimes in your name, takeover your social media accounts, and even steal the points you accumulate on cards like frequent flyer miles. Worse still, if your child’s identity is stolen, the criminal can have years to destroy their reputation before anyone clues in at all. It’s a real threat and it happens daily.
Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in Canada. Fellowes conducted a survey of Canadians and found that 18% of Canadians had been victims of identity theft. Of those 20% were between the ages of 18 and 34, and 23% lived in Saskatchewan.
My husband and I do our best not to be victims of identity theft. We never send out paper for recycling until we shred it first. We shred all bills, bank statements, reward card statements, bank receipts and even junk mail if it has our name on it. Our Fellowes AutoMax 200C also shreds credit cards and even old DVD/CDs that store personal information. It’s quite simply, the most important weapon we have in helping to prevent identity theft. My favourite part of this shredder though is that it shreds up to 200 sheets of paper at a time.
We hold onto all bills, credit card statements and banking information for seven years. That means once a year, I have A LOT of shredding to do. Being able to drop 200 sheets of paper at time (staples and all) in the paper tray saves me a ton of time as well as peace of mind. You can save $350 off this incredible shredder at Staples from March 1 to March 14th.
Finally we never carry our SIN cards or birth certificates on us. These two documents are perhaps the most important a person can possess and that’s why we keep ours locked away in a safe. Our passports are also in the safe when we’re not traveling outside of the country. I felt for sure that everyone must do this, so I was surprised to see the following results from the Fellowes survey. When asked what ID they carried on their person, the results were as follows:
32% of Canadians surveyed say SIN
20% of Canadians surveyed say Birth certificate
35% of Canadians aged 18-34 say SIN
22% of Canadians surveyed aged 35-54 say Birth certificate
5% of Canadians surveyed say Passport
Yikes! Don’t be a statistic. Identity theft could happen to you, so it’s important to learn all the ways you can help prevent this serious crime. I’m looking forward to joining @FellowesCanada, @Listen2Lena and @AlwaysSaveMoney on March 1st at 8pm EST for the #FellowesProtects Twitter Party, to help share tips and tricks to keep your identity safe. There is no RSVP. Simply join us and use the #FellowesProtects hashtag in all your tweets. Prizes courtesy of @FellowesCanada and @StaplesCanada.
Great twitter party! Lots of great info about staying safe! Thank you!
Glad you liked it!