GREENFIELD — Consumers can help prevent their identities from being stolen by shredding their sensitive documents at the Greenfield Community Shred Event, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, at the Guiding Star Grange Hall Parking Lot, 401 Chapman St. in Greenfield.
The event is sponsored by the Greenfield S.A.L.T./TRIAD.
Identity theft is a burgeoning industry and personal information easily recovered from your garbage is all that is needed to steal your identity. According to the Federal Trade Commission’s annual Summary of Consumer Complaints, identity theft complaints were the second most reported complaint after debt collection in 2015, “increasing more than 47 percent from 2014 on the back of a massive jump in complaints about tax identity theft from consumers.”
Among the four main ways the FTC recommends consumers protect their information is storing and disposing of their personal information securely — especially Social Security numbers. (The other three ways are “know who you share information with; ask questions before deciding to share your personal information; and maintain appropriate security on your computers and other electronic devices.”)
Documents the FTC recommends shredding include “receipts, credit offers, credit applications, insurance forms, physician statements, checks, bank statements, expired charge cards, and similar documents when you don’t need them any longer.”
For more information, contact Chris Geffin, program director for the NWDA’s Elders and People with Disabilities Unit, at 413-437-5747