Do I still need to shred my bills if I put everything into a compactor?

Question

I shred basically all of my mail and anything with my info on it. But when I take out the trash, it all goes into a big compactor.

Where does identity theft via mail usually occur? At the trash outside of people's houses, in the mail box, at the dump?

Answer 1

I usually send my bills back to the bullies with all of my money.  Now I see how people get rich.  Shred, and Compact  them!  I'm having a hard time understanding the identity theft thing.  Are you afraid someone is going to pick up your bills?  I totally understand, and relate with that fear, as I must remain independent.  I do admit that I have had, and paid bills that no one should see.  Identity theft?  What is identity theft?  I thought it was something online.  It is also something that writers do, but I doubt they go into dumpsters, and mailboxes for it.

Answer 2

The bills should all be compacted.  The fact that the items are in a compactor just adds to the challenge of the thief that wants to collect identity theft items.

Answer 3

Identity theft via trash is most easily done via dumpster diving, meaning somebody goes into the un-compacted or unshredded trash found in an office or home dumpster.  If your trash is compacted, your bills are harder to get to, even if hand torn first, but it is still possible.  If they are shredded, you are still at risk, depending on the shredder.  Vertical shredders are cheap but it is easy to reconstruct a bill from.  Horizontal shredders are more expensive, but more difficult.  Diamond shredders are very difficult and most thieves would not find the effort to reconstruct potential bills for identity theft worth the hassle.  Confetti shredders used by financial institutions and the government, (in addition to burning confetti chad) is the safest of all.

Back to your question:  Mail ID theft most often occurs in the trash outside peoples houses because they tend not to shred it and simply discard it in a trash bag, which can be grabbed very quickly and gone through somewhere else.