BBB Offers FREE On-Site Document Shredding
and Identity Theft Prevention Tips!!!
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) and its
partners will hold their annual Secure Your ID Day on Saturday, April 21st.
Residents and small businesses are encouraged to attend the event and take a
key step in identity protection by shredding and properly disposing of their
sensitive paper documents as well as CDs and floppy discs.
"Properly destroying documents that
carry information you don't want getting into the hands of crooks is an
important first step to fighting identity theft," said BBB President,
David Weiss. "That's why BBB experts will also be on hand offering
important advice and simple steps everyone can take to prevent ID theft in
their daily lives, both online and off."
Last year alone, 8.1 million Americans became
victims of ID theft, resulting in the loss of $37 billion, according to a 2011
report from Javelin Strategy and Research. Despite the drop in instances from
2009, those who suffered from identity theft last year faced higher
consequences, the study found. The average out-of-pocket loss nearly doubled,
going from $387 to $631 per incident.
BBB Event Details
Two Locations:
1. Solon: Rad Air Complete Car Care, 6221 Som
Center Ave. (Rad Air is located next to Sears) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
2. Canton: Downtown Ford Auction lot, 1423
West Tuscarawas Street
(across from Downtown Ford's showroom with
easy access from I-77) from 9am-1pm
Bring up to three boxes or bags of documents
to be shredded and take home the tips and resources you need to help protect
yourself. Documents to be shredded should be removed from binders, but staples,
paper clips, CDs and floppy discs are okay to be shredded.
As the result of two nationwide Secure Your
ID Days in 2011 alone, BBB helped individuals and small businesses at more than
120 sites across the country shred 2.1 million pounds of sensitive
documents-all for free. For more information on BBB "Secure Your ID
Day" and identity theft prevention measures for both consumers and
businesses, visit www.Cleveland.bbb.org/secure_id.
"Identity theft is largely a crime of
access," added Weiss. "Our goal here is to make the information less
accessible and empower people to be their own first line of defense against
identity theft. With community-based BBBs across North America collaborating
simultaneously, we'll have a tremendous coast-to-coast presence that will reach
a lot of people and, hopefully, prevent a lot of theft."
