PURPOSE: To certainly prevent the leakage of information from an ink ribbon, by selectively removing a part or all of the ink remaining in the ink ribbon from which the ink at a specific part is removed by transfer corresponding to a recording signal.

CONSTITUTION: When recorded information is one to be kept secret, a secret button 24 is pushed simultaneously with a print button 23 to set recording paper 9 to a platen 8 and CPU21 inputs the positional information of a present ink ribbon 1 from a mark detector 6 to store the same in memory 22. After recording information is printed on the recording paper 9, the next recording paper 9 is set to the platen roller 8 and a wind-up reel 2 is driven toward the dot line arrow through a drive apparatus 26 to wind up the ink ribbon 1. CPU21 energizes all dots of a thermal head 7 to transfer the ink remaining on the ink ribbon 1 onto the set recording paper 9 and all ink is removed from the ink ribbon at the part where secrecy is required to be well-kept.