(Sedgwick County, Kan.) – To help combat identity theft and achieve other goals, Sedgwick County and the Better Business Bureau are offering a shred event from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, October 19 in the Coleman Parking Lot located at 2nd Street and St. Francis. Local elected officials will participate and collect documents.
“This event is a great opportunity for residents to safely dispose of documents containing personal information,” Commissioner Michael O’Donnell, II said. “Fortunately, we’ve been able to partner with the Better Business Bureau (Wichita) to provide this service to help keep our residents secure.”
There is no cost for the event.
Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.
In 2018, the Federal Trade Commission processed 1.4 million fraud reports totaling $1.48 billion in losses. According to the FTC’s “Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book,” the most common categories for fraud complaints were imposter scams, debt collection and identity theft. Credit card fraud was most prevalent in identity theft cases — more than 167,000 people reported a fraudulent credit card account was opened with their information.
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