Scherer Mountain to host shredding event Thursday

With identity theft becoming more common, any way to help reduce the threat helps.

On Thursday, Scherer Mountain Insurance, located at 209 S. Third St. in Ironton, is hosting a community shredding event to get rid of items that contain personal or sensitive information, including credit card offers, tax returns, credit card statements, medical explanation of benefits, cancelled or unused checks or deposit tickets, utility bills, other financial records and/or any document containing your signature.

“This is a way to give back to the community, and this is the first defense to try to help protect yourself against identity theft,” Scherer Mountain office manager Juelda Collins, who herself was a victim of identity theft last year, said. “If you can do a little something to protect yourself by shredding documents, that’s what we’re trying to do.”

According to the 2016 Identity Fraud Study released by Javelin Strategy and Research, 13.1 million people were the victim of identity theft last year.

Besides stealing credit card numbers, today’s most common identity fraud scams include using someone else’s personal information to file false tax returns for refunds, piggybacking on someone else’s health insurance for the benefits and opening new, fraudulent credit card accounts in someone else’s name.

The event on Thursday is from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and will also include a live radio remote with WLGC and door prizes.