You may have heard by now about the couple that was arrested for identity theft after posting a photo of their Morton’s Steakhouse dinner on Instagram. But did you look past the comical twist and notice the details of the crime these individuals attempted? If you take advantage of shredding in Los Angeles, you no doubt care about protecting your identity – and so, the details of the story may shock you.

What court documents revealed is that Nathaniel Troy Maye and Tiwanna Tenise Thomason plead guilty to possession of unauthorized access devices and aggravated identity theft, because they intended to sell a large volume of stolen identities – about 200,000 identities, at first, and later 700,000 when they met with an undercover IRS informant.

According to the documents, the informant reported that Thomason first offered to sell him “approximately 200,000 stolen means of identification, including the names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers of identity theft victims, in order to prepare false tax returns.” When they met weeks later, he changed the figure to 700,000 and explained how the false tax returns would be filed.

The final meeting before the arrest was at Morton’s, where the thieves gave the informant a flash drive containing the first 50,000 identities. The informant turned the flash drive over to the IRS, which used the name “Troy Maye” in the metadata to find the Instagram account with that name and a time stamp that matched the informant’s story. That was the evidence needed to arrest these two identity thieves.

Thankfully, they did not get away with the crime. But if they had, the number of lives that would be ruined would be in the hundreds of thousands. It’s just one more example of why it is so important to guard your identity, shredding any copies of documents that contain your Social Security number or birthdate. Take these documents to your local Box Brothers store for secure drop off shredding in Los Angeles, powered by Sergeant Shredder.

We are excited to share information on another community shred event, coming to Long Beach this weekend! Our Long Beach shredding team will be at Stanford Middle School this Saturday, May 18, from 10:00am – 2:00pm. We will be on hand to collect unwanted paper and shred it onsite, and another collector will be receiving e-waste (large and small) as well. All of these great disposal services are on behalf of the school, which has asked us to help them raise funds with this event.

How can you participate? Just bring your materials for shredding, and we’ll safely, securely shred it all as you watch. There is no need to remove your paper fasteners; paperclips, brads or staples are all fine. In fact, you need not pre-sort any papers at all. It all goes to the same place! Remember, the shredding truck will drive away when it is full, so you want to get there as early as possible.

This event is a great opportunity to not only clean out your files and those piles of paper off the desk, but also to dispose of your unwanted e-waste items, such as hard drives, disks, and even larger electronics like cassette players, monitors from old computers, VCRs and televisions. This shredding fundraiser event is free to the public, but if you choose to make a donation while you’re there, the proceeds will go to Stanford Middle School. For more information on the event, please call Stanford Middle School at (562) 594-9793. To find the event easily this Saturday, the school is located at 5871 Los Arcos in Long Beach.

Of course, if you have any further questions about the shredding process, you can contact our Long Beach shredding service today. We will be glad to answer your questions and provide you with details.

In some areas throughout the United States, select chapters of the Better Business Bureau are hosting free document shredding events. That was recently the case in Northern California, where the Northeast California BBB chapter hosted a free paper shredding event last month. This was an outstanding way to promote document shredding in California, specifically among business owners who may not be aware of the advantages it offers the cause of information security.

BBB chapters operate separately, so the fact that one California chapter is offering document shredding does not necessitate that all chapters will follow its lead. However, you can communicate with your local BBB chapter to let them know you think this is a worthy community service you would be interested in participating in locally.

Or, better yet, you can earn money for your own school or worthy organization by having a paper shredding fundraiser with our help. There is no cost for you to schedule the event with our shredding service in Los Angeles; just make sure that your promotional materials state that everyone should bring a $5 donation to have their paper securely shredded onsite.

It is every bit as secure as the services of any BBB contractor, and a huge portion of the profits are donated directly back to your organization. This is what smart, financially savvy non-profit groups do for fundraising. Plus, holding an event like this can really boost an organization’s profile in the community; what could be better than that?

To schedule this event, contact our shredding service in Los Angeles today. We will be glad to answer your questions on holding a document shredding fundraiser anywhere in Southern California, and provide you with all the information you need to hold a successful, profitable event that people will want to come back to year after year.

You thought you already knew the answer to that question, right? Well, you were partially correct; paper does still come from trees, of course. But it may surprise you to learn that paper, at least the paper we use here in the United States, actually comes from three sources – and each of those sources accounts for one third of the paper cycle.

The three sources of papermaking materials are:

• Recycled paper: 33%
• Whole trees and other plants: 33%
• Wood chips and scraps from sawmills: 33%

That’s right; those three paper resources are in a three way tie when it comes to supply and sustainability. Don’t take it from our Los Angeles shredding service, though; take it from the Environmental Protection Agency, which keeps records data on a wide range of natural resources and reports the information on its website.

In fact, the EPA revealed that because we recycle so much paper, the U.S. is able to export around 39 percent of the paper we recover to overseas markets each year. The majority of recycled paper, 55%, stays here to be made into the paper products we use every day; a marginal amount, 6%, is used for manufacturing non-paper products.

You don’t have to be an enthusiastically “green” consumer to contribute to our nation’s plentiful paper supply. It makes good business sense to recover paper, too. Because of the higher supply of recycled paper, the cost of it is being driven down. For businesses that purchase high volumes of paper, switching to recycled paper from an affordable supplier could be a cost-efficient move.

Then, once your documents reach the end of their lifecycle, you can keep the sustainability loop going by having them shredded. A quality shredding services provider is one that recycles all paper once it is shredded, and Sergeant Shredder is one such company. Contact us today to request a quote for affordable onsite Los Angeles shredding services at your business.

Good news: If you are seeking a way to support a great cause, we have one for you! The even better news is that you can benefit from it, too. Sergeant Shredder is holding another Long Beach shredding event this Saturday, May 4th. Held in the east parking lot of Los Altos United Methodist Church at 5950 East Willow Street, Long Beach, this community shredding event will run from 9 am to 1pm or until the shredding truck is full.

The proceeds from this shredding fundraiser will benefit Boy Scout Troop 74, which is shredding its way to Boy Scout Summer Camp! Here are the particulars of the event:

What: Paper Shredding Fundraiser (Community Shred Event)

Where: Los Altos United Methodist Church East Parking Lot (Follow the Signs)

When: Saturday May 4th, 9am – 1pm

How: Bring boxes of paper to shred safely and securely

Why: Help your local Troop 74 Boy Scouts with your $5 a box donation!

All you need to bring, along with your $5 donation, is your boxes of papers that contain sensitive information. Get rid of papers that have your personal information on them, including your Social Security number, account numbers and family birth dates. Protect your privacy and financial security while helping out a fundraiser that benefits local kids in the community! Of course, your papers do not necessarily need to contain sensitive information; they can be junk mail, old school papers or nearly anything in print. But please read our warning below!

One stipulation, please: We ask that you do not bring cardboard, plastic bags, magazines, newspapers or e-waste products (this also means no tapes, CD’s, DVD’s or hard drives). We look forward to seeing you there for another great Long Beach shredding event this weekend, and thank you in advance for your support of the community!

Even when the identity thief who steals your Social Security number and uses it to his advantage is caught, he could end up being released much sooner than you think. A story* that addresses this hit the news this week; it really caught our attention, and we wanted to share it with our Orange County shredding audience. You will be astonished!

Here’s what happened: In the Chicago area, a couple discovered in 2007 that the husband’s identity was stolen at least six years prior – and astonishingly, his wife was later charged with two felonies because her personal investigation “violated the privacy” of the men who stole her husband’s Social Security number and ruined their family’s life.

Believe it or not, it gets worse: In 2011, one of the men was released from prison because although the IRS and Social Security Administration both knew he was earning income using an invalid Social Security number, there was “no proof he knew” that the number was someone else’s. Wow!

The takeaway here is that identity theft is something that not only destroys your credit, your employment prospects and your life; it is also something that the criminal may very well get away with in the long run. This makes protecting your Social Security number even more important.

You can do this by practicing careful shredding of junk mail, excess copies of documents and financial information. Save everything you need on one master copy, preferably a secure, encrypted digital one – and shred the rest. Our mobile Orange County shredding service can come to your home or business and shred those papers onsite. Contact us today for a free quote!

*Source: Fox6 Now, Milwaukee 

Here is a fun fact our San Diego shredding service wanted to share with you, in honor of Earth Day. Today, the United States has 20 percent more trees than it did on the first Earth Day celebration more than 40 years ago. And yet, we now recycle more paper than ever before. That says a lot about how much Americans care about keeping the paper cycle going, so that forests can be better sustained.

In fact, the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) calls recycling “one of our country’s greatest environmental success stories.” That is because we appear to recycle more paper with each passing year. In 2011 (the most recently available statistics), 66.8 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. But the foresting industry believes we can do even better.

The AF&PA has actually set a goal that by the year 2020, Americans will have exceeded 70 percent recovery of the paper they consume for recycling. This is part of the Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 initiative the AF&PA established in 2011.

The organization says that in order to achieve this goal, Americans will need to stay committed to recycling their own paper-based packaging products at home, work and school. Fortunately, cities have made paper recycling easier by providing residents with bins that are designed to hold only recyclable products. Also, schools have gotten with the paper recycling program in a big way in recent years.

Of course, the document destruction industry has also done its part. Sergeant Shredder is proud to be a provider of San Diego shredding services, not only because it helps businesses stay compliant and protect their private information – but also, because it greatly contributes to the cause of environmental sustainability. If your business cares about doing its part, contact our shredding experts to schedule an onsite shredding appointment.

Our Riverside shredding company makes it a point to promote any local events for responsible disposal we come across. There is one taking place this Saturday, on April 27, and it is specifically for anyone who wishes to get rid of expired or unused prescription drugs. Whether you didn’t finish a bottle before the expiration date or a family member taking medication has passed on, you need to dispose of these drugs properly. That is why we love events like this; they make it safe and easy!

Actually, this is not a single event; this is a multi-site opportunity that is happening at nine different locations throughout Riverside County. The county’s Prescription Drug Take Back program takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, at the following Riverside County sheriff’s stations:

• Palm Desert
• Southwest (Murrieta)
• Hemet
• Lake Elsinore
• Perris
• Thermal (Indio)
• Jurupa Valley
• Cabazon
• Moreno Valley

Riverside County Sheriff’s authorities have partnered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for the nationwide effort to give people the chance to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs, Riverside County sheriff’s Lt. Jim Armstrong said.

The program was very successful last year, as Riverside County residents last year disposed of 2,124 pounds of outdated drugs. Since disposing of prescription drugs the “old fashioned way” can be very dangerous, this is a much safer alternative, both for the public and the environment. And yes, the service is free – not to mention totally anonymous.

Whether you are cleaning out the medicine cabinet or disposing of only a handful of bottles, our Riverside shredding experts encourage you to take advantage of the Prescription Drug Take Back day. More information can be obtained by calling the Riverside County Sherriff’s office at (951) 955-2400.

As we have told you, the vast majority of personal identity theft cases are associated with the theft of printed documents, as opposed to hacking or another form of data theft (stealing digitally stored information off a computer). That is why we specialize in document shredding in California – to cut down on incidents of identity theft and information theft statewide.

However, digital data theft is still a big concern in the corporate world. Here are some enlightening statistics regarding data breaches, which may help business owners improve their current security policies.

• 98% of data theft comes from external agents (people outside the company)
• 58% of those cases are tied to activist groups
• Only 4% of data theft cases implicated the involvement of an internal source (someone inside the company)
• Only 1% of data theft cases involve a business partner

These figures tell us that the majority of data theft is committed by people who intend to do harm to a company’s image, rather than use the information to start their own competing operations. This dispels a popular myth about corporate data theft, since many people believe data theft is only committed by “inside job” perpetrators who steal information to start their own companies.

But how do these criminals steal the data? The statistics show us that in 2012:

• 81% utilized some form of hacking (+31%)
• 69% incorporated malware (+20%)
• 10% attacked someone physically (-19%)
• 7% employed social tactics (-4%)
• 5% misused their company privileges (-12%)

There have been changes in the way people steal data, with hacking rising by 31%, physical attacks declining by 20% and misuse of company privileges decreasing by 12% since 2011. Does this mean data thieves are getting smarter? Who knows, but one thing is for sure: As their options for digital data theft continue to shrink, many data thieves will resort to stealing printed documents instead. This is why document shredding in California will continue to be our specialty for years to come. Contact us to request a quote for onsite shredding at your business.

We have a final community shred event for the month of April to tell you about: This one will be a Long Beach shredding fundraiser for the students of Hughes Middle School. Here are the important details of the event, so you and your friends can make it on the right day, at the right time and at the right place:

Hughes Middle School

3846 California Avenue

Long Beach, CA 90807

Date: Saturday, April 20

Time: 9 am to 1 pm

As always, the time of the event may be shortened if the shredding truck fills up quickly. Hopefully, though, we will be able to accommodate everyone for the entire scheduled event time. Bring as many boxes of paper as you would like; there is no limit to how much each person is allowed to shred. Staples and paperclips can be left in place, so there is no need to waste time removing them.

Hughes Middle School, its staff, students and parents will truly appreciate your donation for these secure, onsite shredding services. Plus, you can feel good knowing you reduced your own information risks while helping a local school. Our Long Beach shredding team hopes to see you there this Saturday!