In my travels I am still amazed at how many point of sale systems around the world still print people’s full credit card and expiry number on the receipts.

Most usually X-out all the numbers except the last 4 digits and the expiry date, which is good but even so, do they really need to print the expiry aswell? Dumpster diving or sifting through people’s trash is quite a common method used for identity theft. This involves people sorting through your trash or looking through corporate dumpsters to find valuable information that can be used for malicious purposes. Many famous hacks in the past have involved finding system manuals, usernames & passwords, corporate directories all in the trash.

Imagine you have a letter from your bank with your new credit card, the letter only has your account number which is the new card number. You then go to the store, make a purchase and are given a receipt with only the last 4 digits of the number and the expiry date and finally you right down the CVV number on the back of a paper when you make an online purchase. All these documents go into the trash for trash day…

Now all someone has to do is find all of the above and they have your credit card details and your personal information, it’s about piecing together small amounts of information to get to the bigger picture.

Please take the time to check your receipts and papers you throw away no matter where you are and for best results, shred everything with a good quality shredder before it goes in the trash.