Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. Whatching our Backs.

 Silverton Appeal

Silverton area residents are going to great lengths to protect their identities. They shred, burn or use other means to destroy as much information as possible about themselves.

Names, addresses, phone numbers and account numbers are all goldmines for potential ID thieves, but even though local residents are going to greater lengths to protect themselves, are local businesses using the same level of precautions?

The Appeal Tribune took an identity theft expert, Ron Breeden, from Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. in Aumsville, dumpster diving behind businesses on both public and private property in Silverton’s downtown core to see what personal information was being thrown into recycling and trash. During the search, no locked trash or recycling bins were opened, and no barriers such as fences were crossed.

The results were shocking, even to an expert.

In nearly every bin, information was found that could have potentially been used to steal someone’s identity. During the search, uncashed checks were found that could have been “washed� and new names and amounts put in. Current department store credit card statements and wireless phone bills were not uncommon.