14 DAY TRIAL // Another case of personal documents dumped in a public location has been reported this week, this time involving data belonging to a military base in Albuquerque.
The files were found on Thursday morning in Robinson Park by Asa Ruth, a resident of the downtown area across the leisure space.
Some files were from Kirtland Air Force Base
He noticed a homeless man cleaning the park area throwing to the trash can binders that looked to be for military records.
Ruth says that the information included car insurance papers, registration, and documents like pay stubs and bank statements.
“It looked like something that shouldn’t have left the base at all, like, if I read the whole thing I would be in trouble for it, it was that important,” the young man told KRQE News 13.
After determining the military nature of the files, Ruth returned it to Kirtland Air Force Base. A spokesperson said that the information was not sensitive or classified, although the content of the folders has not been disclosed.
The spokesperson also disclosed that the files were stolen from the car of an airman, without revealing where they were being transported to or to what purpose.
Sensitive data found in dumpsters is not uncommon
Cybercriminals can cause damage starting from any piece of information that could put them in contact with the victim, such as a post or email address or a phone number.
From this, crooks can social engineer their way into obtaining sensitive data that could cause financial losses.
Not all the data belonged to the military base and Ruth tracked the owners and delivered the folders to their home.
“I brought it to their house and they looked at me in shock, they ask how did you get this and I told them I found it in a park trash can in downtown,” he recounted.
Other cases of data tossed to a dumpster have been recorded, albeit the details were more sensitive in nature because they included medical records and social security numbers. Two of them were reported earlier this month.