This event runs through to 2.30pm at Sidney Myer Place on Saturday.
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Bendigonians were given the chance to finally shred their fears of identity theft on the weekend.
The Sherman brothers were among those who took the opportunity on Saturday to clean out cupboards full of sensitive documents.
“We had two car loads full of papers,” Don Sherman said.
“Old business documents, correspondents, bank statements, old invoices, bank slips, financial statements, details of clients … all going back 15 years.”
The Strathdale brothers sold their lawn bowls businesses several years ago but, until now, had no idea what to do with years worth of records.
“It’s too confidential to just throw it away normally,” Mr Sherman said.
Andrew Vincent, owner of Shred on Site – which was hired to put on the free event – said some people were still unaware of the dangers of identity theft.
“I met one bloke the other day who threw away some business documents and a few months later had the police come around asking him to return a hire car,” Mr Vincent said.
“The next week it was an electronic store asking for payment for that flash new TV on lay-by… he cleared his name in the end, but it took 18-months and almost put him out of business – just becasue of a few old documents.”
However, Mr Vincent said the more common scenario was that people were aware of the dangers of identity theft – they just didn’t know what to do about it.
“When you’re a small business and you’ve got a cupboard full of sensitive documents, it’s too much to burn and too much for one little shredder,” he said.
Saturday’s event was part of Shred Fest – a statewide initiative of Consumer Affairs Minister Jane Garrett.
The minister said everyone should properly protect themselves from identity theft by shredding old bank statements, phone bills or health records.
“Scammers will go to extreme lengths to steal people’s identities – including rifling through rubbish bins – so shredding confidential documents will stop criminals in their tracks,” she said.
“Shred Fest is about giving everyone in the community access to shredders to stop confidential information falling into the wrong hands.”
Mr Vincent said the shredded documents were pulped and recycled. “They come back as egg cartons, copy paper, paper towels, greeting cards, pizza boxes … .”