Shred Event in the Treasure Valley

As part of the fight against fraud and identity theft, AARP Idaho, Shred-it, Mountain West Bank, The Village at Meridian and Crime Stoppers of Southwest Idaho will hold a document shredding opportunity on April 7, 2018 at the Mountain West Bank branch at The Village in Meridian. The event takes place from 10am to 2pm or until the trucks are full. There is a five box limit per vehicle.

What: Document Shredding

When: April 7, 2018 at The Village in Meridian from 10:00am to 2:00pm

Who: The event is open to everyone, AARP member or not

Info: email aarpid@aarp.org

Shredding confidential documents you no longer need is a good way to protect yourself. B It only takes a few minutes and can save you lots of headaches later on.

To further avoid having your sensitive information stolen, security experts recommend shredding the following types of materials regularly:

• Old documents: Papers that carry your Social Security number, birth date, signature, account numbers, passwords or PIN numbers.
• Banking: Canceled or unused checks. Shred deposit slips and ATM and credit card receipts, once you receive your monthly statements.
• Credit Cards: Preapproved credit card applications and incentive/gift checks from credit card companies.
• Medical: unneeded medical bills.
• Investments: Investment account statements.
• Obsolete ID cards: Expired driver’s licenses, medical insurance cards and passports.

And for those consumers who use a home shredder, experts also recommend the use of a micro-cut model. Tests have shown that the scraps of paper from a straight or cross-cut shredder can be reassembled by identity thieves. With a micro-cut shredder, the paper is rendered into impossible-to-reassemble debris.

For more information and tips on how to protect yourself from fraud visit AARP’s Fraud Watch Network and sign up for daily fraud alerts.