After recent news that thieves may have stolen the identities of 43,000 Hawai'i residents, dozens of vehicles streamed to the state Capitol yesterday for AARP Hawai'i's free Shred-it program.

"This is the 50th car," said Louise Monette, 74, of Pearl Ridge, a half-hour after the program officially began. "They're coming in from everywhere."

Monette was one of 70 AARP volunteers on hand to help tote boxes and bags of documents and personal papers from car to the Shred-it truck where they were turned into tiny flecks of confetti.

One volunteer, Wilbert Ho of 'Aiea, knew the feeling of having bad guys make off with one's identity.

On Feb. 23, unknown to him, thieves used Ho's credit information to change his address to a Philadelphia street address and then charge $9,849.63 on his credit card number.

Two weeks later they charged an additional $9,999.99 on Ho's card. After which Ho got a call from the credit card company asking, "When did you move?"

"I said, 'I haven't moved.' " Ho said. "I don't know how those guys got my credit card number. No one's immune. You can't be too careful."

Which is why Stephen Shelby, 65, of 'Aiea Heights, a retired narcotics agent who has two shredders of his own, showed up to run his old tax returns through the Shred-it super cross cutters.

Bruce Bottorff, AARP Hawai'i associate director of communications, said folks pulling in who had concerns about handing over private papers to a stranger were invited to watch their documents being destroyed.

"We encourage it," said Kaleo Allado, Shred-it customer service supervisor, who said the company's hydraulic shredder can dice up practically anything tossed into its 34-inch hopper — from fabric uniforms to cell phones to complete laptop computers.

"Mostly I'm seeing tax forms today," Allado said.

Juel Gustafson, 79, a retired grade school teacher from Mo'ili'ili watch her old tax documents go through Allado's shredder, but the real reason she watched was because she had her eye on a pretty blue bag, the contents of which had already been emptied into the hopper.

"Real good service today," she said after Allado had retrieved the blue bag and turned it over to a smiling Gustafson. "I'll use this every time they do it."

Meanwhile, other AARP Hawai'i volunteers were dispensing free security information to anyone interested and handing out booklets with titles such as, "Avoiding Investment Scams and Fraud," "ID Theft: What It's All About," and "Stay Safer on The Internet."

"Unfortunately, we're living in an age when people have to take precautions to protect themselves," said Bottorff.

"It starts with every one of us educating ourselves about how we're vulnerable."

Bottorff said people with questions about AARP's programs, services and information booklets can call him at 545-6006.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.