More than 8.3 million people are victims are victims of identity theft every year. In Michigan, around 8,300 people filed complaints about identity theft just last year. And hard economic times are growing that number.

When it comes to protecting yourself from identity theft, a shredder is how you slice it. Darold Rice of East Lansing came to a free event in Okemos Tuesday where a shredding truck was destroying documents for free. He had brought papers that dated back to the 1950's. He says, "Getting rid of 60 years of history, family history and old check stubs and tax forms."

The AARP hosted that free document shredding truck with the message, "Fight Fraud--Shred Instead". The Director of Communications for AARP Michigan Stepheni Schlinker says, "With the economy the way it is, we are seeing more incidents of identity theft. People are so desperate for money that I think it just makes it more likely to happen so it's more important to be careful with your information."

It's a good idea to shred utility bills, ATM receipts, old resumes, cancelled checks, legal or insurance documents, pay stubs, cred car and bank statements and anything with an address or social security number on it. However, there are some items you should destroy that you might not think of. Those include, any papers displaying a maiden name, pre-screened credit card offers, employee ID tags, any documents that contain signatures, luggage tags and even airline tickets.

If you are thinking of just tearing up your documents by hand, it's not enough. Stepheni Schlinker says, "They could piece it back together and see what your account numbers are...a shredder is a much better way to do it and they'll never be able to put it all back together to find that out."

Rice says, "Identity theft is a problem today." That's why he advises we should all shred instead.

There is a timeline you may want to keep in mind when you shred. Schlinker says as a general rule of thumb, you should keep important documents for about 7 years. There is a banking website with more specific advice about what you can shred at what time. The link is at http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/how-long-to-keep-financial-records.aspx