HILLSBORO, Ore. - Imagine if your credit card number was lying on the ground for anyone to pick up.

Jeff Wider was on his break when he found a bunch of credit card receipts alongside a closed business in Hillsboro.

The receipts were merchant-copy receipts with full credit card numbers from a recently-closed restaurant in Hillsboro called El Taurino.
    
He called the restaurant operators, but no one would meet him.

When KATU News went to investigate,  Wider took the news crew to where he originally found the receipts. Once there, even more were discovered.

All the receipts had full credit card numbers, expiration dates and full signatures.

The restaurant where the receipts were found is across the street from the Washington County jail.

Wider says that when people get out of the jail, one of the first places they walk past is the restaurant.
 
Silvia Gomez and her husband leased the restaurant until about two months ago.

Through an interpreter, Memo Gomez says the receipts must have fallen out of a box when they were removing items from the restaurant after it had closed.

Jan Margosian with the state Department of Justice says that when business owners have personal financial information from clients, they "need to take the responsibility of keeping it safe."
 
But legally, it's a bit of a gray area.
    
Unlike California and Washington, Oregon does not have a "data breach law." Efforts to pass one failed two years ago.
    
Governor Ted Kulongoski and Oregon Attorney General Hardy Meyers are pushing it again this session.
 
It would spell out what's expected of merchants and would give the state more authority to prosecute.

There is a federal law against data breach, but the Federal Trade Commission says it's unlikely they'd pursue a one-time offender with such a small number of breaches. The restaurant owners will likely not be punished for the receipts found near the prison.
 
In regards to full credit card numbers being printed on the receipts, federal law states electronic receipts should have no more than the last five numbers printed, but that only applies to the customer's copy, not the merchant copy.

Luana Newby is one of the customers whose credit card numbers were found outside El Taurino.

Newby expressed dismay at the discovery, saying  "I'm lucky that they haven't used it anywhere else - that I know of. I never even noticed [the numbers] when I signed that. I'll be looking at them closer."

The found receipts have been turned over to the Oregon Attorney General's office. 

For business owners, state law requires them to safely dispose of receipts after three years - preferably by shredding them with a cross-cut shredder or by burning them.
    
For consumers, if you see that your full credit card number has been printed, mark it out completely on your customer copy and then report that business to the Attorney General's office.

The law does not apply to manual credit card machines that take an imprint of your card.
    
And it's a good idea to check your statement frequently for fraudulent charges.
    
As for Jeff Wider, the man who discovered the receipts, he says he ate at the restaurant one time and did not pay with a credit card. In fact, Wider has no credit cards.