News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
DATE:
 September 24, 2018
CONTACT: Kathy Sautter
716 635 5577

   
TOPS TO HOST BBB’S SECURE YOUR ID DAY, FREE PAPER SHREDDING, & IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION EVENT
WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. – Identity theft is at an all-time high and it along with data breaches continues to be a problem in the United States.

In 2017: • 6.64 percent of consumers became victims of identity fraud, or about 1 in 15 people • 16.7 million victims reported identity theft last year which is an increase of 1 million from 2016 • Over 1 million children in the U.S. were victims of identity theft in 2017, costing families $540 million in out-of-pocket expenses To help combat ID theft and educate the public on best practices to secure personal information, a FREE community shredding event will be held in the parking lots of four Tops Friendly Markets locations from 9:00 am – 12 noon on Saturday, October 6 at the following Tops locations:

• Tops Friendly Markets - 355 Orchard Park Road, West Seneca • Tops Friendly Markets - 3865 Union Road (corner of George Urban Blvd.), Cheektowaga • Tops Friendly Markets - 3507 Mt. Read Blvd., Greece • Tops Friendly Markets - 2265 Downer Street, Baldwinsville

Community members are welcome to bring up to three boxes or bags of documents for free on-site shredding and volunteers from the partnering organizations will be on hand to assist and distribute safety tips. Better Business Bureau of Upstate New York knows the best lines of defense are secure paper shredding, education, and routine safety measures to protect digital information. Data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents continue dominating the news, so people may not think about the importance of shredding old sensitive or secure documents. Once an identity thief gets a hold of your information, they have it, regardless of how they got it.

AT&T is actively involved in Secure Your ID Day again this year providing cybersecurity tips and resources to all that attend one of the locations as part of the company’s Digital You and Cyber Aware programs. Digital You and Cyber Aware free online programs offers tools, tips, apps, guidance and community education events for people of all ages and levels to learn more about how to have a safe and secure online experience and how to protect themselves from issues such as digital identity theft and sensitive records theft. For more information on online safety and digital id protection, visit digitalyou.att.com and att.com/cyberaware.

BBB offers the following tips to protect your identity: • Check your credit reports regularly. You’re entitled to a free credit report a year at annualcreditreport.com. • Monitor account statements to be sure you were the source for all activity. • Shred credit card applications and statements before throwing them away. • Never give out personal information. • Look for secured websites. Make sure the website has a locked pad icon and “https” in the URL. • Protect your PINs and other passwords and change them regularly. • Cut up credit cards before pitching them and limit the number of cards you carry. • Consider opting out of pre-approved credit card offers, which can be stolen from your mailbox by identity thieves. • Update your computer with the latest anti-virus and anti-spyware software. • Sign up for the Do Not Call List at donotcall.gov.

### About Tops Friendly Markets Tops Markets, LLC, is headquartered in Williamsville, NY and operates 169 full-service supermarkets with five additional by franchisees under the Tops banner. Tops employs more than 14,000 associates and is a leading full-service grocery retailer in New York, northern Pennsylvania, and Vermont. For more information about Tops Markets, visit the company's website at www.topsmarkets.com.

About BBB

Better Business Bureau is a nonprofit, business-supported organization that sets and upholds high standards for fair and honest business behavior. Most BBB services to consumers are free of charge. BBB provides objective advice, free BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.3 million companies, 11,000 charity reviews, dispute resolution services, alerts and educational information on topics affecting marketplace trust. Visit bbb.org for more information.

 

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