If you’re a Receipt Mail-In User, you’ve probably noticed the red cards that we have been placing in the envelopes that we send to you. I wanted to take a moment on the blog to explain what those are and how you can earn a very significant amount of credit on your Shoeboxed account.

The red card represents the beginning of our referral program whereby you’ll get credits to your account for every person you successfully refer to Receipt Mail-In. If you get a friend to sign up for any Receipt Mail-In plan (Lite, Classic, or Business), you’ll get a $15 credit to your account. Your friend will also get a $15 credit.

To claim your credit, email us at mail-in@team.shoeboxed.com with the people you have invited. If one of them signs up, we will administer the credits!

When you are telling your friends about Shoeboxed, remember to tell them these great things about Shoeboxed:

• No scanning required from you
• Stress-free tax time (IRS accepted)
• Easy expense reports
• No clutter! Receipts in one place!
• Private and Secure (McAfee and TRUSTe approved)

Look for more updates in the future about how this referral system will be further automated, but in the meantime, we invite you to keep spreading the word with this referral program and with our invite feature, which if you haven’t used yet, you should! Your friends and colleagues will thank you.

Nobody likes an identity thief; that’s for sure. Everybody loves to see an identity thief go down in flames, but pretending you are someone else to steal money has been an increasingly common crime over the last ten years. Thankfully, we have all become more aware of common scams, and we know more ways to protect ourselves. Reporting lost credit cards, shredding all sensitive documents, and keeping your computer secure are just some of the simple protections that everyone should be doing.

One thing that continues to surprise me is how often criminals try to use other people’s credit cards. It’s not a particularly easy thing to pull off, as you leave a digital trail of all your activities; After a while, the cops won’t have any problem finding you.

But some criminals aren’t even smart enough to let the cops catch up to them. A man in Iowa City recently signed his own name on one of the credit card receipts he got after using a stolen credit card. Being an identity theft is stupid, but giving away your real identity while you’re doing it is another story.

Shoeboxed, which is certified by McAfee and TRUSTe as having taken all necessary precautions to keep your receipts safe and secure on Shoeboxed, is a safe place to store your receipts and other financial documents. To learn more about our extensive privacy practices, head on over to our security page.

Shoeboxed has just been certified by TrustE, the leading expert on online privacy and security. A nonprofit organization, TrustE promotes solid security practices on the Internet. After investigating our privacy policies and our practices securing your personal data, TrustE has certified Shoeboxed as a site that protects your privacy.

A little bit more about what they do, from their website:

Consumer and Business Advocacy

TRUSTe helps consumers and businesses identify trustworthy online organizations through its Web Privacy Seal, Email Privacy Seal and Trusted Download Programs. TRUSTe resolves thousands of individual privacy disputes every year.

Thought Leadership
Through extensive consumer and Web site research and the support and guidance of many established companies and industry experts, TRUSTe has earned a reputation as the leader in promoting privacy policy disclosure, informed user consent, and consumer education.

Expertise

We were founded by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the CommerceNet Consortium to act as an independent, unbiased trust entity. The TRUSTe privacy program – based on a branded online seal, the TRUSTe “trustmark” – bridges the gap between users’ concerns over privacy and Web sites’ needs for self-regulated information disclosure standards.

We have made a couple of small changes to our privacy in accordance with TrustE’s requirements. These strengthen our already rigorous security practices.

Shoeboxed takes your privacy seriously, and we are happy to supplement our SSL data encryption certification, Hackersafe certification against site vulnerabilities.

All of these certifications are just one part of our commitment to your privacy and security. We also undergo regular internal and external audits of our code and security and privacy policies and back up your account data every 24 hours for your protection.

We are dedicated to keeping you safe and secure. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about Shoeboxed’s privacy and security policies, please let us know at help@team.shoeboxed.com.

Here is a review of what we do to make sure your data is safe and secure. As long as you keep your password safe, Shoeboxed protects your data so it can only be viewed and accessed by you. Shoeboxed uses 256-bit secure socket layer (SSL) encryption, the same security that major bank websites use. Additionally, Shoeboxed does not store the personally identifiable information that would be required for someone to steal your identity. We do not store credit card numbers, bank account numbers, or social security numbers. Unlike other finance websites online, we never even see any of your financial information other than the receipts you put in your account.

Read our Privacy Policy here.

Your data is backed up every 24 hours by remote servers, so even if sometime terrible were to happen to Shoeboxed’s offices, you would still have your information available online. Indeed, a wiped hard drive is one of the major dangers of storing your receipt information on your personal computer.

There are some other things that you can do to make sure that your Shoeboxed account is safe as well. These are just some general tips about how to stay safe online.

1. Never share your Shoeboxed password with anyone
2. Keep your password in a safe place
3. Create a password that is complex, including letters, numbers, and special characters
4. Make sure you have virus protection software and a firewall on your computer when you log in to Shoeboxed
5. If you export your receipt data using one of our export tools, make sure to keep those files in safe and secure location.