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Jigsaw festive fraudsters

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A data security expert is calling for more stringent standards when offices up and down the country undertake the traditional Christmas clearout.

Over the festive period it’s customary for businesses to sort through archiving, folders and files, throwing away unwanted documents accumulated over the year. Often this waste will include bank statements, clients’ details, emails and reports containing confidential information. This will then head straight to the office shredder.

However the thoroughness of this shredding is now in question as increasingly so called ‘jigsaw fraudsters’ are reassembling badly shredded documents. The situation is set to escalate with news that a team of computer programmers from California have developed software they say shows that computers can, in theory, reconstruct shredded documents.[i]

Anthony Pearlgood, commercial director at PHS Datashred, said:

“Every year office workers go through their papers and bin unwanted material. These are often destroyed using an outdated and unreliable office shredder, which can lead to a back log of unshredded material. I’m calling for bosses to take a firm hand and put a stop to ID fraud by using a professional data destruction company. It’s time to shape up your security measures as fraudsters become more sophisticated.”

Each year, offices in the UK throw out:

  • 80.6 million tonnes of printing and writing paper which contributes to 24% of the total UK waste[ii]
  • 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink per year in the UK[iii]
  • 4.9 million tonnes of packaging

 Each year, identity fraud in the UK costs more than £2.7 billion and affects over 1.8 million people, according to new figures from the National Fraud Authority (NFA).[iv]At least £1.9 billion of this is the amount gained by the fraudster. That means that on average, fraudsters gain over £1,000 from every stolen identity.[v]

www.shredding.info

ENDS

For further information or photography, please contact:

Rachael Richards        -                       0161 927 3131

rachael@rmspr.co.uk

Notes to Editors

Facts about the PHS Group

  • The PHS Group plc is one of the UK’s leading workplace service providers, and has traded since 1963.
  • The PHS Group has ten operating companies including washroom services, workplace consumables, serviced floor mats, floor cleaning and restoration, interior and exterior landscaping, drinking water dispensers and document storage amongst others.
  • The PHS Group’s annual turnover, for the year ending March 2011, was £396.4m.
  • PHS employs around 5,000 personnel, operates from a network of over 90 regional service branches, and has 250,000 customers at over 300,000 locations throughout the UK, Ireland, Holland, Belgium and Spain.

[i] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16036967

[ii] http://envirowise.wrap.org.uk/uk/Press-Office/Press-Releases/UK-Press-Releases/One-Bin-Day.html

[iii] http://www.wrap.org.uk/media_centre/key_facts/index.html

[iv] http://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/2010/10/18/identity-fraud-costs-2-7bn-a-year  

[v] The National Fraud Authority