BBB Wisconsin Holds Free Bi-Annual Shredding Event to Help Fight Identity Theft

On Saturday, April 30th, the Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin (BBB) will host Secure Your ID Day (“ShredFest”) – a free document shredding event that helps people protect themselves from identity theft. Identity Theft was the #2 consumer complaint reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year.

The event will be held at four consecutive locations, in Brookfield, Appleton, and Madison from 8:30 am to 11 am:

Milwaukee – Brookfield ShredFest

SVA Certified Public Accountants
18650 W. Corporate Dr.
Brookfield, WI 53045

Appleton ShredFest

Thrivent Financial
2000 E. Milestone Dr.
Appleton, WI 54913

Madison ShredFest

SVA Certified Public Accountants
1221 John Q Hammons Dr.
Madison, WI 53717

And

Warner Park
2930 N. Sherman Ave.
Madison, WI 53704

There is a limit of three bags per car and shredding will take place on site through the use of mobile shredding trucks. SVA Certified Public Accountants, Thrivent Financial, Proshred Security, ARMS, Pellitteri Data Destruction along with WISC-TV (Madison Media Sponsor) are co-sponsoring the event. All paper shred at the event will be recycled.

Last year, Wisconsin was ranked #13 throughout the nation in identity theft complaints with 7,756 complaints filed, compared to 2014 when it ranked #26 with 4,283 complaints according to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel.

In Wisconsin, government documents/benefits fraud was the most common form of reported identity theft at 63 percent, followed by credit card fraud (12 percent), phone or utilities fraud (5 percent), bank fraud (4 percent), loan fraud (3 percent), employment-related fraud (2 percent), “other” (15 percent), and attempted identity theft (3 percent).

Those aged 50-59 are the most heavily targeted group for identity theft, making up 24 percent of the total number of victims reporting their age to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network, directly followed by those aged 40-49 (20 percent), those aged 30-39 (16 percent), those aged 60-69 (15 percent), those aged 20-20 (14 percent), those aged 70 and over (6 percent) and those aged 19 and under (5 percent).

Shredding personal information is a great way to minimize your chance of becoming a victim of identity theft. In fact, most identity theft cases occur after personal information has been lost or stolen, which is why the BBB encourages consumers to dispose of unneeded documents responsibly.

“Identity theft is a serious crime, and complaints have drastically risen in our state according to the statistics,” said Ran Hoth, CEO and president of the Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin. “BBB is happy to provide people this free service and is grateful for our shredding, banking, and media partners. Our goal is to make information less accessible to thieves and empower people to be proactive in the fight against identity theft.”

The BBB’s shredding event is part of a larger, national shredding event hosted by BBB offices throughout the United States. This local, educational event is presented by the BBB Foundation of Wisconsin, Inc.

As a result of shredding events in Wisconsin last year, the BBB Serving Wisconsin shred and recycled more than 32 tons of sensitive documents for individuals and businesses– all for free.

For more information including a list of items that should be shredded, click here

For an online version of the story click here