Identity theft is quite hugely prominent throughout the United States, creating more than 16 million new victims on a yearly basis (based off of the number of victims seen throughout the year of 2017). Identity fraud can happen in a number of different ways, and protecting yourself from this fraud is imperative. Fortunately, much as this crime can occur in a number of different ways, a number of different steps can be taken to protect oneself from identity fraud as well.

For one thing, it will be important to utilize services and companies that take fraud like this seriously. Ideally, these companies will utilize a commercial paper shredder. The typical commercial paper shredder, such as the level 6 shredder, can be utilized to dispense of sensitive information. A commercial paper shredder will help to protect customer interests just as much as this commercial paper shredder will protect the company’s interests. And utilizing a commercial paper shredder like an industrial shredder machine to prevent identity fraud will be great for business in that up to 40% of all customers throughout the United States have stated that they would no longer frequent a place of business if it was found that said business had had a breach in security. Regular use of something like a commercial paper shredder can effectively prevent this from happening.

But it’s not just the commercial paper shredder that should be utilized, as important as this commercial paper shredder might be. In addition to the commercial paper shredder, a secure paper shredder should be used on a personal level as well. Participating in secure paper shredding on your own level is important and can help you to get rid of any documents that might be used against you, namely for the purposes of identity fraud. Unfortunately, far too few people do this, with nearly one third of all people saying that they don’t participate in their own paper shredding to any extent. but this is a relatively easy change to make, thanks to the fact that secure paper shredders are, on a small scale, really quite affordable.

But as important of the role that is played by the commercial paper shredder and smaller scale secure paper shredder, there are still other important aspects to protecting yourself from identity theft. For many people, being careful while on the internet will be an absolute must. This means that important and sensitive information should never be given out to sketchy internet sites, of which there are certainly an abundance. For many people, no precautionary measures are taken, with only around half of all people actually taking time to screen the sites for which they give their critical information. But even taking such small amounts of time to do so can help to keep you safe from identity fraud.

And you should always be vigilant about your money and what is happening with it. One of the ways you can do this is by implementing a mobile banking app on your phone, something that will let you keep a close eye on your accounts as frequently as you wish. And ideally, you should be checking in quite frequently indeed. Even if you do become victimized by identity fraud, keeping a close watch on your bank accounts can help you to identify the problem as soon as it happens. This, of course, will help you to fight back against the crime that has been committed just about as soon as it occurs, something that can certainly mitigate the impact of the crime on your life.

Unfortunately, nearly one quarter of all people only find about their victimization by accident, not noticing that identity theft has occurred in their lives for often quite some period of time. This, of course, can make it much more difficult to recover from identity theft once it is finally noticed. Fortunately, simply by following the above advice, you can prevent such things from happening to you and majorly disrupting your life, as identity theft far too frequently can.

At the end of the day, there is no denying the fact that identity theft is a truly terrifying thing in the lives of many. Fortunately, there are many great ways that it can be prevented.