Every year 7,000 people in Colorado Springs get taken for big bucks.
That's how many fraud cases the Colorado Springs Police Department handles. Many become victims of identity theft and are forced to spend countless hours trying to repair the damage.

But Call For Action is on your side, with their Letter Rip event Friday.

Detectives with the Colorado Springs Police Department are the nerve for financial crimes in Colorado Springs. They're experts on staying on top of the latest tricks of the trade like fraudulent credit card readers; with a quick swipe of your card a crook can use your credit card information in just seconds. Detectives tell 11 News the latest technology makes it a snap to create a Colorado ID with your information and their picture.

Detectives suggest a good shredder to safely dispose of your old financial documents. Detective Jason Ledbetter says, "If you're going to do your own shredding, at the very least get a cross-cut shredder... even more secure is the cross-cut diamond shredder. It makes the pieces a lot harder to get back together."

If you're looking for the ultimate shredder... how about a truck-sized pulverizer? Thanks to the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado, Iron Mountain, and KKTV's Call For Action, Southern Colorado residents could shred up to five boxes for free with Letter Rip.

The Letter Rip event was a great success Friday, with more than 500 cars pulling up with their documents to shred. Close to 30,000 pounds of paper were shredded and will be recycled.

Another great result of the event? Thousands of dollars in food and cash were collected for Care and Share Food Bank.

Katie Carrol with the BBB encourages everyone to take advantage of this kind of service. She says, "That's what we like about these machines, right? They pulverize it so like it turns into confetti and I don't care how good you are, you're not going to be able to put that back together."

At Call For Action, we hear from countless identity theft victims. Don't let yourself become the next victim by simply cutting up your old papers... take action and shred your documents.