Last year there were over 300,000 cases of identity theft in North Carolina alone.
State Attorney General Roy Cooper says "This is costing businesses billions of dollars, but it's also costing everyday people their good name and their reputation and also a lot of out of pocket expenses."
On Saturday, Wilmington residents fought back against identity thieves. More than 200 people watched as their old bank statements, bills and personal documents were shredded outside SunTrust Bank on Oleander Drive.
Donna Cameron of SunTrust Bank says "My fear is people just throw that into their trash can at home. That type of information often times has confidential info, and it needs to be properly discarded, preferably shredded."
While some brought just one basket full of papers, others had a whole trunkload.
If you are a victim of your identity theft, erasing this debt can be a major hassle. Experts say it's better to avoid the problem in the first place.
Cooper says, "Make sure you take these steps to protect yourself and ensure that you're not the next victim of identity theft."
Cameron adds, "The way that we have lived in the past, we must change those patterns of behavior."
Over 10,000 pounds of old personal documents were destroyed Saturday, making it that much more difficult for thieves to ruin a person's credit, and good name.
WWAY-TV hopes to sponsor more shredding events in the future.
Identity Theft Solution
Article is right on the mark. You can't prevent Identity Theft but you sure can be proactive and have a solution in place when it happens to you. Restoration back to original state before you got hit! Currently accepting new members for a limited time.
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Protect Your Identity
This article is CORRECT- ID Theft affects millions of people! However, ID THEFT is a LOT More than just financial!
In addition to ruining your financial history, ID Thieves are also ruining Driver's License, Social Security, Criminal and Medical Record(s)! This is done when YOUR SSN or Driver's License # is used at a hospital and your medical records are changed, including YOUR Blood Type, which can have deadly implications when YOU need an emergency procedure- a doc is going to look at your medical records at this point, which are now WRONG, thanks to someone else using your SSN or Driver's License #!
In addition to your medical problems, your can end up with a criminal record because a crime is committed by someone using YOUR SSN or Driver's License! Then, when this individual does not show up for court, YOU are going to be arrested for NOT 'showing up'!
You need someone to watch and make sure that there is not false and incorrect info going on your bureaus. To have the experts monitor and help restore your bureau's, (medical,credit,social security,criminal and driver's license).
Go to: prepaidlegal.com/hub/todd93 and e-mail any questions or your desire to be protected!
RE: Protect your Identity
The Office of the State Attorney in North Carolina has one of the best Identity Theft protection sites in the nation. You don't need someone else to monitor your credit report when you can do it yourself. Roy Cooper's office provides all the advice, information and tools you'll ever need to not only protect your identity but get it back.
When it comes to the protection of your identity you are the expert. No one knows more about you than you. By hiring a company, or someone else, to watch your credit reports and other confidential information, you're only opening up yourself to an even greater risk of identity theft. What happens if the person you've hired to watch your personal information get's his computer or office broken into. What if he's an identity thief? Now you've just given a criminal the keys to knowing every single thing there is to know about you. It happens and it happens a lot. What qualifies someone else to watch over your personal information anyway? Who qualifies someone else to look over your information? Are they licensed? These are all questions you should be asking yourself before hiring someone else to protect your identity.
All of the tools and information you need to protect yourself are there for you to do this yourself. You don't want to leave to someone else to take care of. It's still true that in this day and age you can't trust anyone.
Don't have time to check your credit report yourself? Lose your identity and you'll be so busy cleaning it up that you won't have time for anything else. The best thing of all is to prevent it from happening in the first place. You shouldn't ever have a problem protecting your identity if you follow these 3 simple steps:
-Never give out your personal information.
-Get a locking mailbox.
-Get a shredder.
It's simple and it works.