SOmebody went through my garbage

[Deja Q]

Over the last week I've been cleaning house and throwing stuff away. The 9 bags I dumped were all at the bottom as the dumpsters had been cleaned.

Going down this afternoon to dumb a couple more bags, I noticed one of them had been opened, revealing only opened empty boxes of hard drives and sound cards.

I may have had a couple of billing statements torn and discarded in that bag and, of course, with 8 other bags for them to rummage through...

Should I be worried?

(I think somebody saw the empty boxes' writing pressed against the liner and thought "ooh, free computer stuff! :9" Fucking morons, it's the TRASH. Since when do people put useable stuff in the TRASH?)

There were a couple of pun 2gb hard drives and a defective older model sound card, but I'd wiped the drives and shattered the circuit boards afterward. There wasn't any sensitive data on them, but still... it's a garbage can, not a garage sale. :eyes: (though the difference between the two is that one makes money from one, the other gets discarded.) And a laptop that was dysfunctional.

I could care less about the broken hardware, it's just the bills I'm worried about. I knew I threw away some.

I'll be writing to my landlord, but is there anything else I can do?

Thx!

[eyesroll]

1. Could it have been animals?

Animals have managed to chew their way through Rubbermaid garbage cans here.

[Deja Q]

3. Human animals

:-)

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Buy a paper shredder.

Happens all the time to me.

[Deja Q]

4. Thanks

Will get one this week.

[greatauntoftriplets]

11. You're welcome....

Mostly the dumpster divers are looking for recycleables to trade in for cash...i.e., soda or beer cans. But I never drink soda and buy bottled beer, so I am not rich pickings.

But in this day and age, it is wise to protect yourself.

[Craig Roberts]

5. I don't know where you live

But where I live there are always people going through my garbage and everybody else's garbage. They are homeless people and drug adicts looking for cans, bottles, etc. that they can get money for, and perhaps food or something else they can use. Some people even look for "good" stuff that they think is valuable even if you don't. They call it "dumpster diving."

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

6. "Since when do people put useable stuff in the TRASH?"

Never gone dumpster diving? I've found cameras, books, electronica, furniture- all kinds of cool stuff gets thrown out! One man's junk is another man's treasure...

Protect your receipts, however. Always check to make sure they don't have your CC number and/or your written signature...

[ret5hd]

7. We put "usable" stuff out all the time...

i put that word in quotes because it is of no use to us.

3 old floor furnaces...gone in less than 2 hrs
old lawnmower...less than an hour
weatherbeaten old double-hung windows...some overnight, some still there
broken small air compressor...knock on the door before i even sat down.

sometimes if a "product" isn't "moving", i put a sign by it with a price. usually that does the trick.

my point being...it may have just been scavengers.

[miss_kitty]

8. Protect all your shit

call the companies you think the bills you threw away went with.

My identity was stolen (i used to investigate credit card fraud. I have burned and shredded everything for 17 years) from my hospital records, and my life was a living hell for a few months earlier this year.

and shred ANYTHING with your name and address on it. :hi:

A lot of people throw out usable stuff in the trash and there are a couple guys that go through our dumpster, but they don't take statements, they are just looking for stuff they can sell on, and actually do OK with it...

[hunter]

9. I would worry a little bit about identity theft...

But I have a funny story--

About ten years ago, at one of my peak political activity times, I had someone stealing my newspapers, so I was watching for the newspaper thief early one morning when two well dressed guys in a nice car stopped in front of my house and dumped my garbage into the trunk of their car and quickly drove away... which was damned funny, because the garbage was full of my kid's dirty diapers.

[amazona]

10. I wouldn't necessarily worry

I used to be a trash-picker although I bag everything up nicely again so people can't tell. If the person is home I don't just grab what is out front for the garbage, I ask first, but clearly if it's in the dumpster, they don't want it anymore, so I take if I see stuff with possibilities. Some people do put good stuff in the trash, you'd be amazed. I've even found money although you do have to ask yourself why the heck someone would throw out money. Sometimes the only way to be sure that it's stuff you can't fix or get good parts from is to take a look. There is nothing sinister about this. It sounds like someone was just checking to make sure there wasn't any useful, re-sellable or fix-able stuff in the bag, not "dumpster diving" for your identity information. Keep an eye on your monthly statements and report any discrepancies promptly but otherwise I wouldn't panic.

[AMD_CPU]

12. Dumpster-diving....

is recycling at it's finest.

shred your bills. Hope somebody got some use out of the rest of it.

[SoCalDem]

13. We love our shredder..

Key Features
Cut Style Cross-Cut

Max Sheet Capacity 7

Speed 7.6 ft./min.

Throat Size 9 in.

Shred Size 0.19 x 1.5 in.
Other Features
Shredding Operation Automatic

Integrated Waste With Integrated Waste

Full Bag Indicator With Full Bag Indicator

Accepts Staples Accepts Staples
Dimensions
Height 14.8 in.

Depth 13.5 in.

Width 9.5 in.
Miscellaneous
MPN as702mx

Product ID 21187891

---

It's fairly cheap (Staples) and came with a $10 rebate.. It even shreds credit cards into little chunks :)

and has a see thru basket, so it doesn't get jammed up when it's too full and you don;t know it :)

[Gore1FL]

14. A related story to one of your side questions:

(I think somebody saw the empty boxes' writing pressed against the liner and thought "ooh, free computer stuff! " Fucking morons, it's the TRASH. Since when do people put useable stuff in the TRASH?)

I was once in a play with a garbage man. He was not the brightest guy I ever met (I am not meaing to imply all trash collectors fit that characteristic -- but this guy did).

One day he was explaining his occupation to a group of us, and stated that we would be amazied at how much free food people leave out for them....