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08 October 2008, 03:29:49 EDT  
The risk of just tearing up unwanted credit card applications

The risk of just tearing up unwanted credit card applications

Tim Finin, 1:00pm 11 March 2006

In The Torn-Up Credit Card Application, a prankster describes how he did everything he could to make his (unsolicited) Chase credit card application look suspicious. Here’s how Chase recommends disposing of unwanted applications:

“If you receive financial solicitations that you’re not interested in, tear them up before throwing them away, so thieves can’t use them to assume your identity.” source

He tore the application into small pieces; taped them back together; specified that the card be shipped to a different address than the one the application was sent to; and gave a cell phone number as his contact. He got the card, of course. Scary.

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