The writer of this real-life anecdote doesn't get his point across very well since his sarcastic tone is hard to interpret for those who don't know at the outset what he's attempting to prove.
What he's actually saying through the course of the story is that ripping up a credit card application is not enough if you want to dispose of it. He was able to rip up an application into small pieces, reassamble them with tape, and fill out the application complete with a change of address and phone number... and Chase sent the card to the other address and allowed it to be activated by the alternate telephone number! (He used his parents' address and his cellular phone.)
The lesson here is that disposing of a credit card application by ripping it up and throwing it away is not enough. Any industrious garbage-digger could reassemble the application and submit it with their own address and phone number listed in order to gain access to credit under your name.
This story really makes me glad that I asked for (and received) a paper shredder this past Christmas.
(The Torn-Up Credit Card Application)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
The Geek Code desperately needs updating, but in any case here's mine (as of 2010-02-28):
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GIT/MU d+(-) s:+>: a C++> ULXB++++$ L+++ M++ w--() !O !V P+ E---
W+++ N o++ K? PS PE++ Y+ PGP t !5 X- R- tv+@ b++ DI++++ D--- e*++
h--- r+++ y+++ G+
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
If you really care about knowing what that all means, you either know the code already, or you can get it decoded for you here.
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