“Many readers of this newsletter will no doubt be aware of the risks of identity theft, and take appropriate measures, such as shredding, when disposing of sensitive documents.
“Many readers no doubt also fly regularly and are probably members of one or more airlines’ frequent flyer clubs. If so, how do you dispose of the boarding pass stub at the end of your journey? Do you shred that too, or just dump it in a handy litter bin? I mean, it’s not that important is it?
“It’s only a used boarding pass stub, after all.
“A UK newspaper recently showed how frighteningly easy it is to build up a complete profile on a total stranger just from the information on a discarded boarding pass. Apart from the flight information and the seat number, the boarding pass of course also showed the passenger’s name, his frequent flyer status and his card number. Armed only with that detail on a stub that he had picked out of a litter bin on the train from Heathrow airport to central London, the reporter was able to establish, within half an hour and from publicly-available sources, the passenger’s passport number, his date and place of birth, his nationality, where he worked, where he lived (and how much he had paid for the house when he bought it a few years ago), and what university he attended.
“So, when you leave the plane, please be careful what you do with the stub of the boarding pass.”
The full story is available on:
http: //www. guardian. co. uk/ airlines/story/0,
