Identity Theft

I think most of us are aware of identity fraud and take steps to prevent it. Some of the things I do are:

1) I never mail anything from my house, I use the post office or their drop box
2) Rip off my name, address and account numbers from all mail and run it through a cross cutting shredder
3) Make sure to always take credit card receipts with me
4) Check my credit report at least annually to look for unfamiliar accounts (free credit report information here)
5) Check my credit card statements for unfamiliar purchases

More ways to protect yourself can be found here.

But here's a new way thieves can gain access to your information. I'll admit I've never heard of this.

Copy machines made within the last five years have disk drives the same as computers do. So when you make a copy, say of your tax return, the copy machine retains your information.

Although there are no known instances of fraud by this method the possibility still exists.

Yesterday:

$6.08 Jimmy John's