BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The 16th annual shred fest returns as the deadline to file taxes approaches.

CEO of the Better Business Bureau, Carmen Million said if consumers make their personal information accessible to others, they are more likely to be a victim of identity theft.

“Understand that they’re actually dumpster divers out there that will actually go through your trash and put those documents together,” said Million.

Experts say in order to protect yourself, make sure all confidential information is securely destroyed.

“A large amount of identity theft or perpetrated by people, you know. And that’s why it’s so important to keep your information hidden,” Million said.

Which is why the Shred Fest is making a comeback. It’s an event for people to get their documents, properly destroyed.

“It’s why you want to make sure when you shred your documents, you have a cross shredder so that those pieces cannot be put back together,” Million added.

Shred Fest is scheduled for Saturday, April 15.