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Tuesday, April 26, 2005
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Free shredding offered to prevent identity theft
Senior Reporter For those with papers filled with personal information stacked up to be shredded at home, a solution may be in store.
Community Shred Days in area cities offers a quick and free option to get rid of documents and safeguard against identity theft. Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union and Paper Storm formed a partnership to offer the free paper shredding. Their first event took place in Crosby last week and nearly 400 pounds of paper were shredded.
Geoff Gorvin started his Brainerd-based document destruction company named Paper Storm in February 2002. The business has grown quickly, by 30 percent last year alone. Set up inside a truck, Paper Storm works on-site shredding everything from videotapes to CD-Roms, computer discs, microfiche and paper. Shredded material is recycled. Businesses such as clinics, law offices and banks make up most of his clients, along with the occasional residential job.
If you go
Free paper shredding is available through a partnership with Paper Storm and Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union. Community Shred Days will be set up rain or shine in the credit union parking lots in area cities. Limit three boxes per person.
Brainerd, 3-7 p.m., today, 200 S. Sixth St.
Little Falls, noon-2 p.m., Wednesday, 307 First St. S.E.
Staples, 4-6 p.m., Wednesday, 1220 N. Fourth St.
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With the growth of identity theft, the credit union and Gorvin created the partnership to shred documents for individuals who may have a few boxes of sensitive material. They also hope to raise awareness of the issue of identity theft. Gorvin said they will see how the effort goes and could offer it as an annual spring event.
"There are just a lot of reasons why taking better care of the destruction of your records is really a good thing," Gorvin said.
After checking with law enforcement, Gorvin said there were 50 cases of identity theft reported in Crow Wing County in the last two years and 25 cases during the same period in Cass County.
Anything with personal information -- driver's license number, Social Security number, bank accounts, credit card statements, tax records, credit card applications, pay stubs -- are suggested for shredding. The Better Business Bureau suggests shredding anything with an individual's name and address.
Gorvin said he's gotten a couple of calls from companies interested in offering the on-site service to their employees.
"There is growing awareness of the problem," Gorvin said. "It just seemed like a good time to do something like this."
The National Crime Prevention Council reported identity theft as the fastest-growing crime in the United States, Gorvin said. About 9.3 million cases of identity theft were reported nationwide last year. On average, victims will spend about $1,400 and 60 hours getting their finances straightened out, which can literally take years to do, Gorvin said. Identity theft incidents involved about $92,000 being charged to the victim's accounts, he said.
RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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