Bring your out-of-date passports or old utility bills, credit card and bank statements - anything that could be fodder for identity theft - to the Walmart parking lot this Saturday.
That's where the Prince George Crime Stoppers Society, with help from Shred-it Mobile Shredding Services, will properly dispose of those items in exchange for a donation to the Society.
It's the third year the event will be held - it runs from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m. and is not meant for business owners - and in the past, anywhere from 75 to 100 boxes of documents have been handled each time with some people bringing in a year's worth of paper to be shredded.
"We've got the truck right there and as soon as you give it to us, it goes into the shredder and boom, it's shredded instantly, it's done, right there, on the spot," said Prince George Crime Stoppers Society vice president Ron Polillo.
Identity theft has been a growing problem. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, 20,611 people in the country were victims of the crime in 2014, up from 19,489 in 2013 and 17,094 in 2012.
That said, the dollar loss has dropped significantly, to $10.5 million in 2014 from $11.1 million in 2013 and $16.1 million in 2012.
Simply throwing documents into the recycling bin is not good enough, Polillo said.
"At minimum, if you're going to do that, you should at least tear it but a lot of people don't even do that," Polillo said.
"And you're opening yourself up, it's a real issue."
If a document falls into the wrong hands, the culprit can use it to obtain a credit card in the victim's name or drain a bank account.
Signs that you may be a victim include receiving credit card statements or other bills in your name, which you did not apply for, or conversely no longer receiving credit card statements or noticing that not all of your mail is being delivered.
Other signs include receiving telephone calls or letters stating you have been approved or denied by a creditor that you never applied to or being told by a collection agency that they are collecting for a defaulted account established with your identity and you never opened the account.
More information on identity theft and other types of fraud can be found at www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca.
About $1,000 is raised each year at the event.
Prince George Crime Stoppers is a non-profit society that offers rewards for tips that lead to arrests, seizures and recovery of property.
Tips can be left anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, online at
www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca or Text-A-Tip to 274637 using keyword "pgtips."
