Readers reply: to shred or not to shred? Is it OK to throw out sensitive documents?

Helpful hound? In an age of online identity fraud, how careful do we need to be with paper documents? Photograph: vit-plus/Getty Images/iStockphoto

I like to shred anything with my name and address on before putting it in the recycling bin (although this usually means ripping it up and putting on the compost heap). But my children say there is no need, that the world’s digital now and no one’s going to be rooting through our rubbish to scam us or steal our identities.

I understand what they are saying, but I still feel uneasy about releasing readable information about myself into the world like that. Does anyone know what best practice is these days, and does anyone still get scammed in this way? M Palmer, Aberdeen