National Protect Your Identity Week
October 14, 2009, 12:56 pm
Springboard Partners with U.S. Secret Service and Local Police to Provide Education and Help to the Community
In 2008, 10 million Americans fell victim to identity theft fraud costing more than $48 million. "That number was an increase of 19 percent over the prior year, making identity theft the crime that won't go away," said Melinda Opperman, Senior Vice President of Community Outreach for Springboard Nonprofit Consumer Credit Management. There have been breaches of secure information in nearly every sector of the business community, not just in the credit industry. It also reaches into education, health care, banking, and even into government sectors. Anyone can be affected by identity theft.
In partnership with the National Foundation of Credit Counseling (NFCC), Springboard is working daily to build awareness of this problem. National Protect Your Identity Week will take place from October 17- 24, 2009 and provide Springboard with the opportunity to focus on this one important aspect of overall personal financial literacy. This campaign will partner well with other programs, as October is also National Crime Prevention Month.
The average victim's loss per identity theft incident is $4,849, but more than that, the victim of identity theft will spend an average of 600 hours and $496 resolving the issues related to the crime. Prevention is the best answer to this growing problem and though the programs organized by Springboard, the agency hopes to bring awareness to the public, of the steps they can take to protect themselves from being a victim of this crime.
Springboard is taking the lead in educating Southern California's Inland Empire Community during National Protect Your Identity Week by providing an Identity Theft Awareness and Resource Fair on Wednesday, Oct. 21 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The event will include presentations by the U.S. Secret Service and the Corona Police Department along with free, onsite document shredding. The community is encouraged to bring outdated financial records, including bank statements, old checks, credit card statements and other items that contain personal information for disposing in a safe environment. The event will be held at Springboard's SHINE Center, which is located at 1605 Spruce Street, Suite 100, Riverside, CA 92507.
Following are additional Identity Theft Awareness and Prevention workshops that Springboard will host throughout Southern California during National Protect Your Identity Week:
Monday, Oct. 19
9:30 a.m. – Housing Authority of San Bernardino, Chino, CA
13088 Monte Vista Ave., Chino, CA
11:00 a.m. – Helping Hands Kinship Support Services
16519 Victor Street, Victorville, CA 92395
12:30 p.m. – Bear Valley Department of Aging and Adult Services
17270 Bear Valley Road, #108, Victorville, CA
Tuesday, Oct. 20
10:00 a.m. – Waterman Gardens Housing Community
425 Crestview, San Bernardino, CA
12:00 p.m. – Medtronic
18000 Devonshire Street, Northridge, CA
Wednesday, Oct. 21
6:00 p.m. – Springboard SHINE Center
1605 Spruce Street, Suite 100, Riverside, CA
Thursday, Oct. 22
6:00 a.m. Vita Metals, Corp. Fontana, CA
8:30 a.m. – Rob Wiener State Pre-School, Perris, CA
9:30 a.m. – Rob Weiner State Pre-School, Perris, CA
11:00 a.m. – Vista Metals Corp., Fontana, CA
2:00 p.m. – Vista Metals, Corp., Fontana, CA
3:15 p.m. – Rob Weiner State Pre-School, Perris, CA
For more information, contact: Sheri Stuart, Senior Communications Specialist
