Identity theft is a real and serious problem. It is estimated by the Department of Justice that more than 8 million people in the nation were victims of identity theft just last year.

A quick and easy way those thieves steal identities is they raid trash cans, dumpsters and even landfills, which they have easy access to, and they then find receipts. These receipts will have a name and the last several digits of a credit card or debit card. It is unreal what thieves, of all economic statuses, can then do with just that small bit of information.

In that same pile of trash, thieves can probably find some junk mail addressed to your home and then maybe even some important documents if they are really lucky. Now they have your name, address, and some digits in your card number. If you toss out any bills they will instantly have access to your social security number and be able to do a number of things such as open new credit card accounts.

We want to commend the Selma Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and Riverdale Credit Union for organizing Shred-It to arrive in Selma and help protect our community from becoming victims of identity theft and fraud.

On Friday, April 12 Shred-It will pull into the Chamber of Commerce parking lot on Selma Avenue and shred all documents that are dropped off my residents for free.

All residents are limited to four boxes of documents and we want to encourage residents to fill their four boxes and bring that much, instead of just tossing away seemingly unimportant documents in the trash.

We also want to do our duty in reminding residents to shred their documents and receipts on a regular basis and then recycle anything paper or plastic using the city’s recycling program. Shred-It will be sending all of the materials to be recycled as well.

The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and we encourage all to attend, because we do not want to see residents suffer from poor credit ratings due to an identity thief.