RESIDENTS are being encouraged to destroy all household bill receipts and credit card statements in a bid to beat a new breed of criminal. That's bin surfers!

The term is used for would-be offenders who rummage through wheelie bins and extract the financial documents to make their own fraudulent purchases.

Unfortunately, the arrears are then forwarded to the unsuspecting householder.

Over the last few weeks, the Bury Times has learned from several residents around the borough, including the Myrtle Street North area of Bury, and Heywood Road area of Prestwich, of young men pawing through the contents of wheelie bins.

One homeowner said: "When I saw a mess had been left on the ground, I though it was the binmen not doing their jobs properly. "It was only later that I was told somebody had been searching through it. I can only imagine there must be some sort of criminal motive behind it.

"It is beyond belief that I now feel I have to monitor what I throw away."

In the scam, credit card receipts or bank statements together with household bills are used to obtain goods by deception.

Supermarket receipts can also help criminals buy items using other people's money.

Detective Sergeant Duncan Heywood of Bury police said "bin surfing" was not a common crime and that it was not an offence to rummage through people's household waste.

He said: "It can be said that anything discarded in a bin by a resident is no longer wanted so there is no theft.

"However, the offence occurs if items from the bins are then used for deception.

DS Heywood offered the following advice: "All receipts, especially if they include credit card or bank account details, statements and paid bill receipts should be destroyed. They can either be burned or ripped up into small pieces."