Talkin’ Trash: a window into what’s inside your house

Look at the picture. Someone just got a brand new 4K TV.

They also just got a thief’s undivided attention.

The high-tech TV’s box, left leaning against the garbage, is the perfect billboard to a boosting. This homeowner just told the world he’s got the latest TV technology — and it’s a thief’s for the taking.

Consumer investigators, law enforcement officers and security experts will tell you:  never dump anything on the curb that offers a look into your valuables or your income standard. “The root of the issue is the identification of disposable income and the way people live,” said Bryan Black, editor-in-chief at Imminent Threat Solutions. “The astute thief can reverse-engineer that information you leave on the curb and figure out what other kinds of goods may be inside.”

This also goes for documents, invoices and receipts that contain your account numbers, Social Security numbers or other sensitive information. Shred that stuff with a good cross-cutting shredder, the kind that shreds the paper into quarter-inch or smaller confetti. Don’t use shredders that shred paper into pasta-like strands. Thieves will actually dumpster-dive for those strands and use special software to piece them back together.

In the case of that 4K TV box, the owner should destroy the box — tear it up into pieces that don’t identify what it contained — and stuff them inside a trash container or take them to a recycling center.

That would give the owner some peace of mind and a good case to have the gang over to watch the big game on the 4K — instead of giving a bad guy some good intel to case the house.