The Better Business Bureau will hold their annual “Secure Your ID” Day. This year the event has been expanded to two days.
BBB invites the Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia community to BBB “Secure Your ID” Day Friday at DuPont Community Credit Union, 4503 Hixson Pike, and Saturday at Lee Corners, intersection of Lee Hwy and Hwy 153. Consumers 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.
BBB staff will also be on-site to provide expert advice and tips for identity theft protection.
“Properly destroying documents that include information you do not want getting into the hands of crooks is an important first step to fighting identity theft, but it does not end there,” said Jim Winsett, BBB president. “That is 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.” In 2013 alone, 13 million Americans became victims of ID theft, resulting in the loss of $21 billion.
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, and paper clips, are okay to be shredded.
As the result of two nationwide Secure Your ID Days in 2013 alone, BBB helped individuals and small businesses at more than 113 sites across the country shred 3 million pounds of sensitive documents—all for free.
“Identity theft is largely a crime of access,” added Mr. Winsett. “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 BBB’s across North America collaborating simultaneously, we will have a tremendous coast-to-coast presence that will reach many people and, hopefully, prevent a lot of theft.”
For more information on BBB “Secure Your ID Day” and identity theft prevention measures for both consumers and businesses, visit: www.chattanooga.bbb.org.