One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. If you don’t believe it, ask an identity thief. With a quick call to the sanitation department, thieves can learn the day and time of garbage pickup for a target area. Identity thieves typically strike early in the morning before sunrise or late at night, using darkness to conceal their identity. After finding a secluded area to go through their “haul,” the thieves look for any item that may contain personal identifiers—documents that contain social security numbers, birthdates, mothers’ maiden names and account numbers or passwords all make attractive targets.

Among the hottest items criminals search for these days are checks—even invalid ones. In one case of simple forgery, a thief went on a spending spree after finding supposedly worthless checks from a closed account in the trash. Canceled checks are also a prize. Thieves wash the checks using a chemical process that removes the ink from the paper. Or, by using an off-the-shelf software package available at most office supply stores, they can scan the canceled check and use computer graphics to clean it up and make it look like new. Keep in mind, thieves don’t need the physical check, as just the checking account number will suffice.