Dispose of your documents carefully….

Next week is the  7^th National Identity Fraud Prevention Week 2011 and you are invited by the UK’s leading on site data destruction company, Shred-it, to use their Edinburgh branch from Monday 17 to Friday 21 October 2011 to dispose of your confidential documents. (better than putting them in a park bin anyway…)

Edinburgh residents can take an unlimited number of personal confidential documents containing sensitive information to be professionally and securely cross-shredded by Shred-it’s industrial grade shredding machines.

Robert Guice, Executive Vice President EMEA said: “Identity theft can cause a great deal of distress for victims, who must then spend a great deal of time and effort unravelling the fraud. According to the National Fraud Authority, almost two million people become victims of identify fraud every year, with criminals gaining an average of £1,000 for every identify they steal, but there are a number of steps people can take that will help to combat fraudsters.”

“The best way of preventing your identity being stolen is to destroy any document or electronic storage method where unwanted personal information is kept.  Shred-it is proud to support National Identity Fraud Prevention Week 2011 and we are looking forward to inviting the public so we can play our part in cracking down on ID fraud”.

The company believes that  confidential documents are often left in non secure locations such as recycling bins or waste paper baskets as most people have begun to get into the habit of recycling.  However, this has always presented a risk as these documents could potentially be picked up by anyone at anytime, including being stolen whilst awaiting collection.  Leaving documents in this way can leave individuals and businesses at risk of security breaches, identity theft and fraud.

Identity thieves often try to obtain genuine documents like birth certificates, passports and driving licences but also hunt for utility bills, online passwords, account numbers and personal information many people post on social networking sites.

The best safeguard against personal identity theft is therefore to regularly destroy confidential personal and business documents securely before recycling them.  Using the facilities of a company like Shred-it will allow you to take the necessary steps to protect yourselves by destroying documents that you no longer need.

You can contact the Edinburgh branch online or  call 0800 197 1164