HOUSEHOLDERS are being warned about the dangers of throwing sensitive information into their dustbin.

The practice of "dustbin diving", where fraudsters rummage through the contents of dustbins, is on the increase in Stockton and the borough council is urging residents to be on their guard.

A sample survey of the contents of 400 dustbins readily accessible outside houses in the town revealed that:

* More than 70 per cent of the bins contained the full names and addresses of at least one member of the household.

* Forty per cent threw up an entire credit or debit card number that could be linked to an individual.

* More than 75 per cent of these included vital expiry date details.

* Twenty per cent yielded a bank account and sort code that could be linked to a member of the household.

Little or no effort was made to destroy any of these documents.

Householders are being warned that thieves who are getting access to information like that can result in credit or debit card fraud or identity theft.

To combat this, people are urged not to throw old bank or visa statements into their dustbin and are being encouraged to burn or shred them.