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Cold Spring Lions Host Second Annual "Shred-It Day" to Prevent ID Theft
Mobile Shredders will Offer Free Disposal of Confidential Information for Residents
The Lions Club of Cold Spring & Garrison will host its Second Annual "Shred-It to Prevent Identity Theft Day" to raise awareness about the dangers of not properly disposing unwanted personal documents and information. The Club will provide free shredding services for all residents of Cold Spring, Garrison and the immediate environs of their personal paper trash. All documents will be confidentially shredded by mobile shredder provided by a licensed and bonded document destruction and disposal company. The event will be held in the parking lot of The Nest Child Care Center at 44 Chestnut Street (across from FoodTown) on Saturday, April 21, 2007 from 9am to 1pm.
"Identity theft can affect anyone - young or old; businessman or homeowner," said Fred Clarke, vice-president of the Cold Spring & Garrison Lions Club. "So many people have asked us to do it again after last year's success and we are pleased to respond with the return of this important service."
The issue of identity theft is one that concerns many in our community. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov) states that almost 700,000 Americans lodged complaints relating to personal identity theft. In 2005, 9.3 million people had their identities stolen because of the misappropriation of key personal identifiers, including Social Security numbers, PINS, mother's maiden names, and healthcare records. According to the Federal Trade Commission, one in three people will be the victim of identity theft over the next five years. And the typical victim, according to a Nationwide Insurance survey spent 81 hours trying to resolve their situation and 28 percent were not able to recover.
Some of the ways that ID thieves can get personal information include:
* Rummaging through your trash, the trash of businesses, or public trash dumps in a practice called "dumpster diving." * Stealing a wallet or purse * Stealing personal information found in the home. * Seventytwo percent of the information involved in identity theft is stolen offline by accessing paper documents.
According to the FTC ID thieves can use personal information in the following ways:
* Call credit card issuer and change billing address then runs up charges on your account. * Open a new credit card account in your name. * Establish phone or wireless service in your name * Open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on that account * Obtain identification such as a driver's license issued with their picture in your name.
For more information, call Fred Clarke, vice president Cold Spring Lions 914-715- 5986.
About Cold Spring Lions Club
For over 50 years, members of the Cold Spring Lion's Club have been proudly serving residents in Cold Spring and Garrison area, as well as people who need help throughout the world. Over the last five years, we have donated over $50,000 to fund college scholarships for our high-school students, the Haldane Graduation Knoll, victims of Hurricane Katrina other needy causes and every year we host seniors in our community to a Christmas Dinner. The Cold Spring Lions Club is a member of the International Association of Lions Clubs, a volunteer service Organization comprised of over 45,000 individual clubs in 196 countries, with over 1,300,000 members worldwide.
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