Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Identity theft costs victims time and money, often overlooked in simple trash.
- Dumpster-diving thieves find valuable information in mailboxes, trash and recycling bins.
- Utah's "Declutter Day" offers free safe disposal of documents, electronics and medications.
SALT LAKE CITY — The costs of identity theft often add up to a whole lot of time and money lost for its victims. And while many of us may be savvy to some of the sophisticated techniques criminals use — smishing, phishing, fake websites, data breaches, the dark web, etc. — you could be overlooking something much simpler.
An ID thief opened a credit card in Justin Bryner's wife's name last month, spent nearly $16,000 and the credit card company was insisting the Bryner's pay.
"All of the charges were either in stores in Georgia or Florida — places where my wife has never been," Bryner said. He contacted Get Gephardt and the KSL Investigators helped convince the credit card company it shouldn't be holding the couple to the charges, but victims aren't always so lucky.
In 2023, Americans lost approximately $43 billion to identity fraud, according to the AARP. Of that, $5.3 billion stemmed from new-account fraud.
And while many bad guys find their victims' information deep in the dark web, there is a much more analog way they get their grubby little fingers in the doors, too.
"We still generate a lot of paper," said Katie Hass, director of Utah's Division of Consumer Protection. "We still get a lot of mail."
Dumpster-diving ID thieves
Hass said our mailboxes, trash bins and recycling bins can contain everything an ID thief needs. For example, it is tax time and some of our tax docs have all the goods: names, addresses, Social Security numbers and more.
But Hass said crooks don't even need that much. By simply learning where you bank, a crook might pose as a representative from your bank and manipulate you into sharing all sorts of information.
"Our paper contains a lot of really valuable information for a scammer to use to basically perpetrate a con on us," she said.
Hass emphasizes the importance of shredding everything — even if you think there's not much fodder for an identity thief.
"You're tempted to just throw it in the recycle bin and let it go," Hass said. "But people go through trash, they really do."
Declutter day
To that end, the state wants to help. This Friday, April 18, the Utah Division of Consumer Protection and the University of Utah have teamed up to host "Declutter Day." It's an opportunity to safely dispose of personal documents, electronics and medications at no cost. The public is invited, except for businesses.
