One Huntsville company has hit a new low for how they treat their employees. Hancock Fabrics didn't think their current and past employees were worth the small cost of a shredding service to protect them from identity theft. When they were cleaning out old employee records they simply dumped them in the trash. The personal documents were found and reported to the local news.

At least some documents tossed out are the result of a company going out of business. Hancock Fabrics must now tell their current employees they have no value to the company.

3GS LLC has announced the acquisition of Databank Business Services for undisclosed terms. Databank offered shredding services to the Montgomery and Birmingham Areas. The company will now operate under the Safe Shredding brand.

Westaff in Sarasota recently went out of business. Unfortunately, all their client files ended up in a dumpster. According to Anita Rence who found the documents they included "everything from W-2's, W-4's, copies of driver's licenses, social security numbers...just everything." Video.

Another case where a paper shredding service could have prevented a bad situation.

Dr. Frederick Knight had several boxes full of patient records. He must know they need to be destroyed securely because he took them from his office and left them in a dumpster behind Toney's Eastridge Grocery. They were found by they manager who notified the police and the media.

The doctor admitted to doing this in the past and now faces illegal dumping charges and that is before HHS investigates HIPAA violations. He might want to clean up his act because the updates to HIPAA in the Stimulus Bill make the fines $10,000 per patient for willful disregard of security like this one.

To help curb identity theft caused by dumpster divers, Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch is proposing a law that would require businesses to shred personal documents. Currently the law of the state only protects electronic data.

Perhaps he is eyeing all the money that Texas is getting from business who do not shred.

A customer at Homestead Studio Suites in Indianapolis was throwing out some trash at the hotel when he noticed a curious stack of documents. On closer inspection he found out they were copies of receipts. The receipts had the name, address, complete credit card number and signatures. Enough information to commit credit card theft. [video]

Perhaps it is time for the hotel to find an Indianapolis shredding service.

Mindy VanCampen was taking the trash out from her Draper office when she made a shocking discovery. The neighboring office of North Star Realty had dumped personal information from its customers into the dumpster. They were ever too lazy to throw them in the dumpster and left them laying about the area.

As a prior victim of identity theft, Ms VanCampen was outraged. She notified the media and the police of the situation. Later an employ of the company picked up the files and took them back into the office.

---------------- Update ---------------------

The Utah Division of Real Estate acknowledged that dumping client records in the trash violates Utah law. They said they handled four similar cases recently. One of the companies was fined $20,000. They said they are investigating this case and promise a hefty fine if wrongdoing is determined.