Hartford, CT (1888PressRelease)
June 03, 2008 - Consumers and small business owners coast-to-coast filled boxes and bags with 500,000 pounds (250 tons) of sensitive documents and brought them to Better Business Bureau’s Secure Your ID Day events that took place in 54 communities across North America last month.
A key goal of this initiative was to raise consumer and small business awareness for - and help protect against - identity theft and fraud. Participants were able to watch their sensitive documents being shredded on the spot.
Because of the success of the event, Connecticut Better Business Bureau will announce final plans for another “Protect Your ID” shredding and consumer education event September 20, 2008.
Connecticut BBB President Paulette Hotton says identity theft protection is as important as locking the doors to your dwelling or vehicle.
According to Hotton, “This is not a problem that will go away any time soon, so this will be an ongoing process. We are helping consumers learn how to protect themselves, and at the same time, helping them get rid of any backload of documents with personal information.”
“ID theft is a serious problem claiming eight million victims last year, alone,” said Steve Cole, president and CEO for the Council of Better Business Bureaus. “BBB nationally partnered with identity theft protection champion, Equifax, and the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID) to enable people across North America to close a loophole against ID thieves.”
Destroying sensitive documents responsibly is one key step consumers can take to protect themselves against identity theft and fraud. “Statistically, this the largest single day event of its kind ever held,” said Bob Johnson, Executive Director for NAID. BBB Secure Your ID Day will be an ongoing, North American event, with the next event planned for September 20, 2008.
BBB and its national partners, Equifax and NAID, as well as Guilford-based Shredding Source which partnered with Connecticut BBB for last month’s event, are committed to providing identity protection solutions and products to patrons to help them safeguard their identities – online and offline.
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