You finish sorting the mail, toss an old bank statement into the recycling bin, and throw away a few credit card offers you never requested. It feels like ordinary household cleanup, but those discarded papers could reveal more about your finances than you realize. Identity theft doesn’t always begin with a sophisticated computer hack. Sometimes, criminals obtain personal information through stolen mail, improperly discarded documents, or other everyday security lapses.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends securely disposing of documents containing sensitive personal or financial information once they’re no longer needed. For retirees and anyone managing household finances, protecting those records can help prevent fraudulent accounts, unauthorized transactions, and expensive identity theft headaches.
