There's somebody rummaging through the garbage bin outside my home in the middle of the night. This person does this almost every night. I don't think I have anything to hide, but could someone be trying to dig up dirt on me or steal my identity? Is it even legal for this person to be doing this or are my hands tied?

Does anyone else have a similar experience?

could be anything from:

1) identy theft.
2) private investigator.
3) a homless person looking for food.

im and idiot so i personaly would confront the person next time i saw them. but my sugestion to you is to call the cops next time and see if they can put a stop to it..

either way good luck with it..

The economy is so bad in so many places, it may be that they are looking for anything they can sell/trade for money.

How is the person dressed? Do they look homeless, or are they dressed better than a homeless person would be dressed? What do they appear to take from your trash?

Shred all your important info... ssn, bank accounts, etc. I know a few people who go garbage hunting... they look for cans, things that you think is junk but isn't to them, etc. Evey recyle week we have a mong family that walks through the neighborhood grabbing blue bags filled with cans.

I have no idea if this is legal or not... but you'd be surprised what people throw out. I suggest calling your local police department and ask them if it's bugging you that much.

Have you actually seen this person? or are you assuming it's a person?.
Maybe it's an animal.
If it is a person can't you record him for a few days and go to the police?, it seems strange that they target your trash every night. Do you throw a lot of food away?.

Some people go through garbage just to pick up useful things people throw away. Sometimes they want recyclables, sometimes they're trying to steal documents that contain financial information they can use to steal your identity, and sometimes it's raccoons.

Thanks for the replies.

At first, I thought it might be a homeless person trying to get bottles and cans to recycle, but it persisted even after I made an effort to scratch off the barcode on all of my bottles. In Oregon, where I live, you can only get money for bottles if the barcode is scanned.

I even tried to discourage them by putting messages like "Stop going through my garbage!" at the top of the trash bag, and when that didn't work, I decided to write the messages on a piece of shocking pornography and have even put syringes, broken glass, condoms and tampons at the top of the garbage.

It's definitely a person, because they're very deliberate and seem to go through everything. I have not noticed any similar activity happening to my neighbors, but my bin is the only one I can see from my window.

I gotta admit that I can be a bit of a raccoon myself going through people's garbages. To sometimes see what interesting things are in there, and that might be useful. I got a bunch of coathangers that I brought home. My friend nabs pop cans, and bottles out of peoples' garbage cans.

Yes, I was a Sanitary engineer working through the city so is my friend.

Sounds like you either got a nut fanatic or could be one of two animals.A raccoon which i would think it is,or a bear depending where you live.Btw if your so worried about it simple hide a video camera someplace in the open to see it or you can also rent one.Case closed??

[edit on 13-6-2008 by alienstar]

I've had a similar problem before. It wasn't hard to figure out it was wild animals. I'm pretty certain that raccoons can't read.

Over the years it was raccoons, opossums and sady one small baby opossum that fell off it's mothers back. Another time it was feral kittens, man are they quick and nasty. It should be obvious if it's an animal though.

Maybe you have a split personality or sleep walk and it's really you doing it?

Have you actually seen this person? if not its probably an animal, especially if the can has been knocked over.

As far as I know, it's not illegal to take things from people's trash once the trash is at the road. Private detectives do it all the time. Why don't you just put your trash out in the morning before work? And of course, it's common knowledge that you don't throw any papers away with your info without shredding them.

I don't know if its the same in the states, but here in the UK our/some local council/s can fine you for not recycling properly . Initially the bins had a chipped device inside that could supposedly monitor what you were putting in them (I know it sounds like bull but it was on/in all the local tv news/newspapers!) but most people destroyed them, so apparently they do check up on you. Maybe its a garbage spook?

Originally posted by the way
I don't know if its the same in the states, but here in the UK our/some local council/s can fine you for not recycling properly . Initially the bins had a chipped device inside that could supposedly monitor what you were putting in them (I know it sounds like bull but it was on/in all the local tv news/newspapers!) but most people destroyed them, so apparently they do check up on you. Maybe its a garbage spook?

LOFL what a joke. As if there aren't better things to spend money on. Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with the UK. How did it go from "the sun never sets..." to a welfare state full of chavs and wimps. I mean no offense to Brits, of course. We here in North America are effectively your progeny. But I wish the English would stop being so damned self deprecating and passing it off as "charm." Garbage Spooks...haha good one!