By S.A. REID www.ajc.com
The rise in identity theft makes safeguarding personal information from old bills to canceled checks essential in keeping it out of the hands of thieves.
The local Better Business Bureau is offering free, on-the-spot document shredding and expert advice Saturday to metro Atlantans interested in making a clean sweep this spring.
SECURE YOUR ID DAY Bring any documents that include personal information, such as bank account, credit card and social security numbers. The list includes:• Tax records• Bills• Bank statements • Checks• Medical records• Credit card pre-approvals Source BBB
The services are being offered as part of the inaugural BBB Secure Your ID Day, a national collaboration involving BBB's coast-to-coast, Equifax and the National Association for Information Destruction.
Metro Atlanta residents and businesses can drop off paper documents for shredding from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter, 5455 Atlanta Highway, Alpharetta. Up to three bags or boxes will be accepted per car.
Five Star Shredding, a document management company in Alpharetta, will have on site a truck equipped with a mobile shredder that can handle about 6,000 pounds per hour. All destroyed documents will be recycled.
"We are giving [residents] a way to take a large amount of the personal information that they want to have responsibly shredded and have the confidence in knowing that anything that has their personal information is being shredded right in front of their eyes," said Dottie Callina, a spokesman for the Better Business Bureau serving metro Atlanta, Athens and northeast Georgia.
BBB and other officials will be on hand at the drop-off to pass out information on how to prevent ID theft and what victims should do.
Experts consider identity theft a "crime of access." Last year, more than 8 million Americans fell victim to the crime for a total loss of $45 billion, according to a Javelin Strategy and Research report, a California-based financial services research firm.
The Federal Trade Commission puts the number of Georgia victims at 8,744 in 2007, nearly 700 more than the previous year.
"Identity theft can have far-reaching consequences and hamper a person's ability to do everyday things," said Jennifer Costello, an Equifax spokeswoman. "It can cost a consumer up to hundreds of dollars to resolve these issues."
Saturday's event is the first of two planned for this year. A second one is set for Sept. 20. The success of Saturday's event will determine the location.
Other partners of Secure Your ID Day in Georgia are the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs and the Southeast Regional Office of the Federal Trade Commission.
Tips on preventing ID theft:
• Check your credit report regularly, at least 3-4 times a year.
• Pay attention to billing cycles. Missing or late bills could signal a problem.
• Don't carry your Social Security card in your wallet
• Sign on with a credit monitoring service that can alert you to significant changes in your credit file.
Source: Equifax
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