Shred Day Returns to Salinas - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

SALINAS, Calif. -- Shredding Day returns to Salinas Thursday, giving the community a chance to safely get rid of personal or financial documents and prevent identity theft.

The shredding event is open to the public and free of charge. Anyone can bring up to 40 pounds of documents to be shredded to Soell's Allstate Agency at 1820 North Main Street.

Soell's Allstate Agency will have a secure, professional, portable document shredding company on site to destroy printed, personal the documents of residents and businesses.

Identity theft is an issue across the nation. Approximately 9 million Americans annually have their identity stolen, causing anguish and millions of lost hours attempting to restore the victim's personal identities. Allstate held a free-to-the-public document shredding event in Salinas on August 10, 2012, that was well-attended. Participants and interest in the event demonstrated that Salinas-area residents would benefit from another shredding day.

To reduce vulnerability to identity theft, the Federal Trade Commission recommends treating trash and mail carefully, protecting your social security number, using only secure internet sites, selecting intricate passwords and safeguarding purses, wallets and other personal belongings.

According to FTC many victims of identity theft don't know where or how to start the recovery process. Identity Theft Restoration insurance assists by helping victims understand their rights, filing paperwork, issuing fraud alerts to credit card agencies and the Social Security Administration and reviewing credit histories to ensure correct credit scores.