If something has value, someone will find a way to get it. The information and data on many of your documents are valuable. Therefore, there’s a chance someone will go through your dumpster or recycling bin to retrieve them. Prevent that from happening by hiring TITAN Mobile Shredding to take these potentially dangerous but no longer useful papers off your hands.
There’s a big difference between throwing out documents and shredding them to the point that the information is not legible. Problems can arise whenever people want to dispose of papers, but they don’t understand what’s on them, or they know but don’t care if others see them.
Sensitive Information Available to Anyone Willing to Look
A public paper recycling center in Decatur, Georgia, was recently found with piles of documents with personally identifiable information, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Names, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and medical information were available to all those interested.
Many of the documents at the Your DeKalb Farmers Market bin are from the county’s Board of Health, the state’s Department of Community Health, Emory Healthcare, and Fulton County government. The most common letterhead is from “Senior Connections” which was a nonprofit that contracted with government agencies to provide senior services in the Atlanta area until it closed in 2018.
A Richmond, Kentucky, resident in 2015 found 65 boxes of medical records in a dumpster. Carl Swanger understood there was a problem and contacted a nearby hospital, reports the HIPAA Journal. They weren’t the source. The records came from a nearby self-storage business that cleaned out an abandoned unit. Richmond Radiology had closed about four years previously, stopped paying rent on their storage space, and failed to correctly dispose of patients’ medical records. The storage company’s manager claimed he didn’t know what was in the boxes and told an employee to get rid of them.
Dumpster Diving Can Be Part of the Job
Dumpster diving is so effective at obtaining important information that it’s commonly used by law enforcement and private investigators. One online article gives helpful hints:
“For businesses, you’ll want to conduct your trash pull very late at night or early in the morning. Trash pulls conducted after long weekends or holidays will yield the best haul. Remain vigilant. Listen for the police. Watch out for rats, raccoons or other scavengers… You may think a trash pull is beneath you or not worth your time. Think again. I recently helped a major retailer prove one of their franchisees was violating the franchise agreement, based on evidence found during a trash pull.”
Let TITAN Mobile Shredding Prevent Information from Getting Into the Wrong Hands
Anyone can go through your trash. Throwing away confidential information without shredding exposes you, your clients, and your employees to potential identity theft and legal liability. Hiring TITAN Mobile Shredding is the best way to protect yourself and your business. Call us at (866) 848-2699 today to learn more.
