Identity Theft Through Your Bank Deposit Receipt

If you have made a recent trip to your bank you most likely got a deposit receipt. Identity theft through your bank deposit receipt is a possibility. A small one, but a possibility it is. Surely, you either felt good or bad after making the deposit by looking at the available balance, but don’t fret.  It will be all better sooner or later. Right?

So how can this identity theft thing happen?
Whenever you receive a receipt of your deposit you should dispose of it, especially when:

• Your account number is displayed
• Your name is on it
• Your balance is shown
• Your deposit amount is also shown

Your account number is the key factor that can make the theft of your identity a possibility.  Coupled with your name it becomes a “deadly gun.”  Adding the presence of your balance and deposit information it becomes a “loaded & deadly gun.” The balance or the deposit amount is often a deciding factor for an identity thief to pursue the opportunity. In general, the higher the balance or deposit amount the more lucrative is the undertaking of the crime.

Proper prevention
Protect yourself by keeping your bank receipts with you until you can file them in a safe place or dispose of them (shredding or burning are great ways). Don’t throw your bank deposit receipt in a trash container as it is then out off your control. If you would like to keep light on the go tear the receipt in places where your account number and name are displayed.  Further advice for this technique is to tear the receipt in tiny little pieces and then dispose of them. However, throw them out at numerous locations instead of one. Identity theft criminals don’t want to solve an unsolvable puzzle, so make it harder for them to put all the pieces together.

Signs of paranoia?
No, not at all. Identity thieves will often go through great lengths to obtain little bits of information about their victims. This is done through gathering of receipts, bills, and other identifying information, often, through dumpster diving – where a criminal goes through garbage to get what he needs to perform a fraudulent crime. Although the chances of identity theft through your bank deposit receipt are relatively small, you should try to practice identity theft prevention at every step of the way. Not every bank has mechanisms to prevent theft of your identifying information. Therefore, for example, you should ask your bank clerk to print a receipt that shows the last 4 digits of the account number instead the full 10.