Does it Work Wednesday: Black Out Stamp - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

Does it Work Wednesday: Black Out Stamp

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By Lauren Keith - bio | email

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SIKESTON, MO (KFVS) -

Home Smart Black Out stamp promises to "jumble" printed info with special ink, making it virtually impossible for identity thieves to read. 

As an agent at Anderson and Green Insurance in Sikeston, Mary Cappel is one who knows all about keeping personal identity safe. 

"We have a company that collects and shreds the info usually once a month."

For home use, Mary thinks this permanent stamp might just be useful. She uses the Black Out stamp on a policy number.

"It looks pretty good to me. I can't make out those numbers at all."

Nothing shows on the back side of the paper either. This stamp is ten bucks, so, it'd better be much better than a permanent marker, right?

After several tries on many different words and pieces of paper, we find Black Out really does mangle those letters. However, we run into a snag when trying to cover up info that's typed...in other words, from a typewriter.

"It's making it harder to read but not completely blocking it."

It also won't cover colored, large-size font as seen on this company's logo.

Still, it does a nice job covering up addresses and other computer-generated print you'd find on junk mail.

"It's faster than tearing and it's easier. Some of the junk mail is heavy paper and hard to tear."

Of course, this probably isn't practical in an office-setting. Mary's group will stick with the shredding company, but she might use this at home for some documents.

"I don't know what I want to trust my personal info or tax returns to it."  

"B minus!"

Home Smart Black Out stamp can help prevent identity theft, working well in most cases, but we still recommend shredding those highly personal documents. It's a steal at $10, earning a B minus on this Does it Work test. 

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