Research on the contents of people’s trash bins was one of the highlights of the National Identity Fraud Prevention Week (coordinated by a number of state bodies for the third time this year). As it happens, people throw away bank information, data on their social security numbers, their mortgage papers, and even copies of their passports. In addition, every one in ten garbage bins contained data on credit card numbers and their expiry dates. Experts believe this information can be as valuable to experienced fraudsters as cash. These data can be used for illegal credit card applications or for obtaining some cash through a bank card.

«Unfortunately, not only the British citizens are in trouble. In Russia, people can fall prey to fraudsters just as easily if they don’t obey the most commonsensical confidentiality rules», SKB-Bank’s Deputy Bank Card Management Director Sergey Mamaev says.

«The bad news is that the protection systems devised by security experts simply don’t work if a cardholder doesn’t take proper care of his or her personal data. A bank card is both the most convenient and the safest way of managing one’s money, while the easiest and the most efficient way of making this card secure is for the cardholder to be responsible. The solution to the problem often rests with the people who use bank cards rather then with the technology. One should bear in mind that adhering to the rules of wise card usage is a key to protection and safekeeping of your money. In the meanwhile, lots and lots of people still keep their personal identification numbers next to the card itself; some even write the PINs on the card or (as the research has shown) throw the PIN away in the trash bin», he adds.