A
male
age
36-40,
anonymous
writes:Hi there,I have just had to go to a local newsagents and ask if they could print some stuff out of me. It was about 30 pages of documents including job applications, email details and cv details. It was obviusly something the guy doesn't usually do and i thought he was doing me a favour as i need it for job application proof tomorrow but when i got home the file was no longer on the disc implying he copied it over to his computer before he printed it. (I did hear him muttering something about saving but told him he didn't need to do that). Should i be worried? Can people do harm with that sort of info? Any advice?Many thanks Reply to this Question
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Fancy yourself as an agony aunt? Add your answer to this question! A
female
reader, DrPsych +, writes (30 November 2009):
 I think everyone should be worried about their personal information getting into the wrong hands. Get your photocopying done at a self-service place or a library in the future. I was at a rented house-share with my husband and another family prior to moving into a house we bought. I checked our credit reports recently online and found that the man who lived there had tried to raise credit on both our names after we had left. He failed, but there was a CIFAS warning on the credit file about that address ad him being a dodgy geezer. It took me a while to sort it out as I was worried about our future credit and what else he had been up to. You can volunteer to put a CIFAS warning on your file if you suspect identity theft and you can read about it on their website (google it). However, I suspect the newsagent would not trade your information to criminals as it would directly impact on his business. You could join one of those credit reporting agencies to monitor credit applications in your name for a while. You can also go back to the shop and mention the 'missing data' casually - say you hope he has not retained it because that would be violation of the Data Protection Act and you wouldn't want his business to get into trouble. If he is dodgy and he knows you are aware of the discrepency and clued-up about these things then it may stop him acting on it.
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