Scary Mail Theft Facts

IdentityTheft.org provides shocking information on mail identity theft

IdentityTheft.org is an informative website that offers information on mail theft and identity theft, as well as ID Theft prevention tips. This site reports that the first step in prevention is a secure locking mailbox. Below are some of the facts and information they provide on mail identity theft:

• Postal Inspectors report that Identity/Mail Theft has become the #1 white-collar crime in the country.
• New reports indicate that mail theft is up 71% versus last year.
• According U.S. Postal Inspectors, it takes a minimum of 44 months to recover from Identity Theft.
• One in three cases involving identity theft occurs via the mail!
• For the criminal, the mailbox is the gateway to financial fraud, and victims are left with empty bank accounts and shattered credit ratings.
• Parcel Packages are at their most vulnerable when left unattended on your doorstep. With Internet shoppers increasing daily, more and more parcel packages never find their rightful owner due to thieves who follow these trucks and grab packages left unattended.
• Police and the US Postal Service say that “deterring mail thieves is as easy as locking outside mailboxes and warn to never leave bills in mailboxes for postal workers to pick up. Postal Inspectors term this “Red Flagging” and recommend that you always take outgoing mail to a Postal drop box or US Post Office.
• “The unlocked mailbox”, according to one Postal Inspector, “comes from the days when you left your house unlocked.”
• According to local Police Chiefs, mail theft is one of the nonviolent ways drug users use to support their drug habits when they steal your bank checks and credit card statements from your mailbox.
• A mail thief can get up to $1,000 per box for a box of reissued and/or new checks you receive through the mail.
• Mail theft has become so common that some states are considering legislation for stiffer penalties since current laws consider it only a misdemeanor theft.
• For the sophisticated criminals, mail can be extremely valuable. Stolen checks are chemically “washed” of their ink, so the thief can make out a new amount and a new payee.