Auto recycle yards gold mine for would-be criminals - KRQE News 13
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) — You can find cheap car parts at auto recycle yards around New Mexico but it is not the only thing you can find. Would-be criminals can also find a gold mine of people’s personal information. A stack of Delbert Secatero’s personal paperwork was found in a 2001 Dodge Ram he sold in March. Some of those papers — bank statements, car loan information and a paycheck stub — were in fact found inside the Dodge Ram, which now sits in the U Pull & Pay auto recycling lot off south Broadway in Albuquerque. If people don’t take that information with them or they don’t go down to the tow yard to retrieve it, they’re leaving themselves open to identity theft,” said Sgt. At the auto recycling lots you’ll find rows of dead and mangled vehicles for people to pick through for parts. But at the U Pull & Pay, one in about every 10 vehicles had personal items inside, including photographs of children, cell phones with personal numbers stored on them and paperwork with sensitive information like Social Security numbers, bank... When cars are hauled away after a wreck or they’ve just hit the end of their lifespan, whatever is left inside gets hauled away too. “People leave their family albums, they leave their Social Security. Source: krqe.com
