Identity theft can be a dirty business, and if you’ve never heard of dumpster diving, then the next time you’re surprised by an old man emerging from a dumpster full of garbage, you might just be encountering your first-ever identity thief.

I was first introduced to dumpster diving many years ago, when a member of a notorious underground hacking group explained that there were other ways to rip off someone’s identity, without using technology.

Rather than spending hours in front of his computer trying to crack open back doors into remote computer networks, he would simply climb into the dumpsters outside a given company’s main offices. Once there, he would search for readable hard copies of any information that might give him an inside track on how the company works, and more importantly, any information he could dig up on how to get system access.

Now this guy wasn’t your typical hacker — if there is such an animal. In his mid-50’s and sporting a mane of long grey hair and a thick grey beard, he looked like a cross between Santa Claus and the Gorton’s Fisherman after a hard night’s partying. And that suited him fine, because although he’d been caught a few times climbing in and out of dumpsters, his outward appearance almost always helped him pass for just another homeless guy, scrounging for food.

Although it might lead to more extensive cleaning bills, believe it or not, this form of dumpster diving has emerged as one of the most popular ways for thieves to steal identities.

And here’s something important to remember: Your dumpster doesn’t have to be big enough to fit Santa Claus in order to be a target. Hardcore ID theft opportunists will roam through neighborhoods at night, searching through garbage cans for any information that might help them reconstruct the identity of a homeowner.

And what they’re after is often what you throw away, in the mistaken belief that it’s worthless. In many cases, thieves are searching for those pre-approved credit card offers that most people simply throw out without shredding. An enterprising identity thief can simply change the address on those offers and then return the application. Once that’s done, there will be a credit card out there with your name on it. But someone else will be charging goods and services that you will end up paying for.

And those credit card offers are just the beginning. Thieves can find useful information through dumpster diving in things like bank and credit card statements, payroll slips, old checks and IRS communications. Remember that an identity thief can afford to be patient; their “job” is to come up with new ways to cut corners and ultimately make you suffer. Even tearing up this information before trashing it may not be enough. So here it is one more time: DON’T THROW OUT MATERIAL THAT MAY INCLUDE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. It’s just too risky.

Don’t believe me? Okay … try this one: A blogger who received one of those pre-approved credit card offers tore the document into little pieces, taped it back together and then returned it to the credit card company to see how they would react. Just to prove a point, and to make it even more obvious, he changed the address on the application to his parent’s home address. And sure enough, lo and behold, in just a couple of weeks, a brand new credit card arrived at his parent’s home.

Even if you’re not exposing your information by tossing it in the garbage, someone else might be. And there are plenty of stories out there to support that statement.

In May of this year, the Maine Lottery Commission admitted tossing a large amount of unshredded information into its dumpsters. The documents included names, Social Security numbers, worker’s compensation claim records, psychiatric and other medical records, and even police background checks.

And during the same month, documents containing personal financial data for customers of J. P. Morgan in New York were found in garbage bags outside five branch offices throughout New York City. The documents included names, addresses and Social Security numbers.

And twice this year, the Attorney General of Texas has sued businesses for putting confidential customer information in the garbage — despite laws that strictly prohibit such action.

In fact, in April this year, the Texas Attorney General sued CVS Pharmacy for illegally disposing of personal information that included debit and credit card numbers, complete with expiration dates. It also included prescription forms with customer names, addresses, dates of birth and other sensitive information. The information was found in a dumpster behind a CVS store.

In the same month, the Attorney General also filed suit against Radio Shack after 20 boxes of business records were found in a dumpster behind a Radio Shack outlet store. The records included sales receipts with credit card numbers, as well as personal information for store employees, some of which dated back several years.

So it’s probably pretty obvious, but here’s the thing: If you want to avoid becoming a statistic — and prevent a stranger from turning your trash into their treasure — just be careful, not only with what you throw out, but also how you throw it.

Any financial information that’s ticketed for the trash, including credit card offers, financial statements and any other sensitive information, should first be shredded. A good crosscut shredder should cost you less than $50. And that’s a very worthwhile investment, given how much money could be at stake if your personal information is ever pieced together by a dumpster-diving identity thief.

Oh, and speaking of well-known dumpster divers, the next time you see Santa Claus … or maybe that guy from the Gorton’s Fisherman ads . . . emerging from a dumpster, tell him I said, “Hi.”