Don’t Fall Victim to Identity Theft: 5 Ways to Battle Mail Theft

You’re checking your mailbox when the unthinkable happens: You realize that the package or important document you were waiting for never arrived. You’ve re-checked your email for the delivery status and it says it’s been delivered. You’ve just become a target of mail theft. “This can’t be happening to me” — you think to yourself, as you’re another victim affected by theft.

Identity theft is Americas fastest-growing crime ever, the U.S. Postal Inspection reported. And it’s quickly becoming one of the fastest crimes, because it’s a common way for criminals to receive and use your information: by digging through your trash and stealing all your businesses old bills, receipts or credit card ads.

Perhaps a company wants to quickly verify a home address of a client; they would need to use an address verification software program before sending mail to reduce lost mail. Using address verification at QAS is a tool commonly used by businesses and will help your company double-check your client’s home address quickly and efficiently.

To protect you and your company from this growing problem, here are five things to consider:

If Your Business Doesn’t Have a Shredder, Get One!

Be cautious: Don’t throw out junk mail, corporate documents or important paperwork with bank account numbers, Social Security information, corporate secrets or any other important information thieves will find valuable. One of the best protections against mail theft is to shred all mail with your personal information: bank statements, credit card applications, job applications, prescriptions labels, etc. Shredders start at around $150 dollars and can exceed over $700 for the top-of-the-line models.

When selecting the right shredder for your business, you want to take into account the size of your business, how much paperwork you generate and how many employees you have on staff. Obviously, the larger your corporation, the more expensive you want your shredder; they’re larger, hold more paper and can shred dozens of documents at a time, including hard plastics.

Establish Security Policies

To secure your businesses data, implement a company-wide policy that sets firm data security rules. Also, address formal consequences employees may face for failing to uphold their end. To do this, you will need to use security technologies, establish employee training and perform background checks, and drafting plans in case of emergencies.

Once You’ve Established Security Measures, Test Them

Determine how well your current practices are working and seek to discover security vulnerabilities before future hackers do. Periodically send out emails to all employees, making sure they know not to open any suspicious looking attachments, which could allow hackers and information stealing software into your corporate database.

Use a Locking Mailbox

If your neighborhood has a growing number of identity theft cases, it might be time to use a locking mailbox. These locks utilize either a combination or a key. You can open a locked mailbox as long as you have the combination or a key.

Enroll in Online Banking

Frequently checking your account information and immediately reporting suspicious or fraudulent transactions from your business credit card can drastically reduce your businesses liability and potential losses. By using a secure server to check your bank statements online, you get immediate access with up-to-date information.