Kay Robinson: BBB Report

Spring is here and now is a good time to rid the house of paperwork that has accumulated over the past year. The Better Business Bureau warns that when it comes to reviewing and cleaning out financial records, failing to shred sensitive documents can put everyone at risk of identity theft.

Last year 8.1 million Americans became victims of ID theft resulting in the loss of $45 billion, according to a 2008 report from Javelin Strategy and Research. The report notes that, contrary to popular belief, only 12 percent of ID theft is perpetrated online. The vast majority of ID theft occurs when the thief has direct contact with the victim's personal information such as through a stolen or lost wallet or by rifling through the victim's mailbox or trash.

When people think of ID theft they almost immediately focus on hackers and online security. But the truth is most ID theft happens when people have failed to secure or properly destroy important financial information, including paper documents, identification cards and credit cards.

Properly destroying sensitive personal and financial documents is a key step in ID theft prevention and the BBB offers some guidelines on when to shred documents:

Many documents should be shredded, and not just tossed in the garbage. They include documents that include Social Security numbers, birthdates, personal identification numbers or passwords; banking documents and other financial information; leases, contracts or letters that include signatures; pre-approved credit card applications; medical or dental bills; travel itineraries and used airline tickets

For more trustworthy advice from the BBB on preventing ID theft and for guidance on what to do if your identity is stolen, go to www.bbb.org.

Kay Robinson is president of the Better Business Bureau of Central East Texas, serving 19 East Texas counties. To contact the BBB in Tyler, call 903-581-5704, and in Longview, call 903-757-3611 or 800-443-0131, or visit the Web site at www.easttexas.bbb.org. The organization can be e-mailed at info@tyler.bbb.org.

Kay Robinson
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