The Department of State's Division of Consumer Protection today joined the State University of New York-Buffalo and Shred-It to help consumers and small businesses prevent identity theft by shredding their paper documents containing personal information. Held on the SUNY-Buffalo campus, the annual event is part of a series of free shredding events held around the state. Since the free shredding series began in 2008, New York consumers have shred more than 94,000 pounds of personal records.
Identity theft is now the most common financial fraud in the country. An estimated 10 million American identities are stolen every year, and New York ranks eighth in the nation in per capita identity theft complaints. Shredding is an opportunity to be proactive about protecting personal and financial information and avoiding the costly and painful process of clearing up one's name.
"Document shredding is an essential weapon in our effort to deter and defeat identity thieves," said Acting Secretary of State Cesar Perales. "The Department of State's Division of Consumer Protection is committed to helping consumers and small businesses safely discard of information containing data that could be used to steal a person's identity."
Identity thieves commonly use techniques such as dumpster diving to obtain the personal identification information of others. Scammers go through trash to obtain copies of checks, credit card or bank statements, medical records and other documents. They then use the information to steal a person's identity and secure services fraudulently under that person's name.
Shredding is a reliable way of safely and properly disposing of documents, which if discarded improperly, could be a tool to facilitate identity theft. The Department of State's Division of Consumer Protection recommends that people consider shredding documents containing personal identifiable information for adults and children including:
- All personal records that contain a Social Security number, date of birth or bank account number
- Tax documents (after seven years)
- Explanation of Benefits (EoB) statements from health care insurers (after reconciling)
- Bank records and pay stubs (after one year)
- Credit card receipts and statements (after reconciling)
- Prescreened credit card offers received in the mail
"The University at Buffalo is pleased to team with the Department of State's Division of Consumer Protection to provide the University and the Buffalo communities the opportunity to protect personal privacy and information," said Dennis Black, University at Buffalo Vice President for University Life and Services. "We encourage everyone to take advantage of these unique opportunities to shred personal papers for better identity protection. As our semester comes to an end, it's a great time to clean up and clean out papers from the academic year. Let's do it together in a safe manner."
The business Shred-It provided its secure shredding services free of charge and documents were commercially shredded by trained, licensed and bonded document-destruction specialists.
The New York Department of State's Division of Consumer Protection serves as the state's top watchdog and think tank on a wide range of consumer related issues. Among the services it provides, the Division investigates and resolves consumer complaints, educates the public about product recalls, and represents consumers before public utilities and other state and federal agencies.