PUD- Energy- Saving Scams

The Snohomish County PUD has issued the following alert:

The PUD reminds customers about potential scams that may be committed over the phone or by people visiting their home or business.

• New Postcard Scam (April 2012): Vendors are sending postcards that appear as if they are coming from the PUD ("personal information regarding your utility bills"), encouraging customers to attend a dinner where they can learn how to save "hundred to thousands" off their utility bills. The postcard uses a "sample" bill to indicate how much can be saved. This is some kind of national campaign that is not related in any way to Snohomish County PUD. Attached are images of the front and back of the postcard.

• If a customer receives a phone call asking for financial information, such as a credit card number to make a utility payment, he/she should never provide this information. The PUD never calls customers to collect credit card information over the phone. If customers aren’t sure if a call is from the PUD, he/she should call PUD Customer Service to verify the information given.

• If a person comes to a customer’s home or business claiming to be a PUD employee, the customer should ask to see the person's PUD identification. Employees carry an ID card with their picture on it and will gladly show it to customers. If customers believe they are the target of a potential scam, please call PUD Customer Service to report it.

• Be wary of offers from businesses promising huge savings on your energy bill, particularly if they reference what you paid on previous bills. The PUD does not share your account information with other organizations without your consent. If you have questions about an energy-efficiency offer, call PUD Customer Service.

Customer Service:

425-783-1000
(M-F, 8am to 5:30pm)

Toll-free:

1-877-783-1000
Western Washington & outside Everett


http://www.snopud.com/AboutUs/scams.ashx?p=1786

SPAM- Bogus Emails Sent to Postal Customers

The Postal Service has issued the following warning:

Some postal customers are receiving bogus e-mails about a package delivery or online postage

charges. The e-mails contain a link or attachment that, when opened, installs a malicious virus

that can steal personal information from your PC.

The e-mails claim to be from the U.S. Postal Service and contain fraudulent information about

an attempted or intercepted package delivery or online postage charges. You are instructed to

click on a link or open an attachment.

But Postal Inspectors warn: Do not click on the link or open the attachment!

Like most viruses sent by e-mail, clicking on the link or opening the attachment will activate a

virus that can steal information—such as your user name, password, and financial account

information.

What to do? Simply delete the message without taking any further action. The Postal Inspection

Service is working hard to resolve the issue and shut down the malicious program.

If you have questions about a delivery or wish to report spam, please call 1-800-ASK-USPS or

email spam@uspis.gov.


https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/radDocs/consumer/SpamAlert.pdf

MAIL THEFT- A Way to Lose Your Identity

Criminals looking for cash, checks, and credit cards/credit card account numbers and social security numbers often will steal from mailboxes. This makes Mail Theft closely related to ID Theft. Mail thieves will use account numbers within 48 hours and often within 2-3 hours.
Preventing Mail Theft: The Post Office recommends the following to make it harder for thieves to steal your mail:

• Never send cash or coins in the mail.
• Promptly remove mail from your mailbox after delivery, especially if you are expecting checks, credit cards, etc.
• If you will not be home when valuable items are expected, ask a trusted friend or neighbor to pick up your mail.
• Have your local post office hold your mail while you are on vacation.
• If you do not receive a check, food coupon or other valuable mail that you are expecting, contact the issuing agency immediately.
• Always deposit your mail in a Postal Service blue mail collection box or mail slot at your local post  office or hand your mail to your letter carrier.
• Exchange work and vacation schedules with trusted friends and neighbors, so that you can watch each other's mailboxes (as well as homes).
• If you believe your mail has been stolen, report it immediately to the US Postal Inspection Service:

• http://postalinspectors.uspis.gov to file a mail theft complaint on-line 
• or 877-876-2455 to file a mail theft complaint via telephone

The ultimate prevention measure is to have a locking mailbox. Individual locking boxes are available at major hardware stores. For your street or cul de sac, contact your local Postmaster about locking mail box units. You and your neighbors may need to share the costs.

Have You Ordered Checks from Your Bank?
Now, many of us use bill pay services from our banks or financial institutions. But, we still may need checks for new accounts or to replace our supply of checks. Instead of having your new, blank checks mailed to your home, ask your bank to send them to your local branch where you can pick them up personally. Mail thieves love a package full of blank checks!

Mail Theft Techniques:
1. Mail thieves will follow letter carriers at a discrete distance, checking mailboxes for mail to steal.
2. Mail thieves will drive up to mailboxes, placing advertising flyers in them, and at the same time  taking out checks, etc. They stay in their vehicles to make quick getaways if they have to.

Check Fraud: Check fraud, a form of ID Theft, can include:
• Forged signatures
• Forged endorsements
• Counterfeit checks
• Altered checks

BURGLARIES- More Prevention Tips

Burglaries have made the news since the fall of last year. The recent reports of burglars being shot and confronted by homeowners shows the increase in burglaries that local police agencies have talked about since late last year.

On Sunday, April 15, The Herald published this article with 20 burglary prevention tips:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20120415/BLOG48/704159975

Some of the information may be familiar to regular readers of the Hot Sheet. But, it may bear reviewing and passing on to your neighbors.

BURGLARY PREVENTION- Vehicle Registrations

On April 11, I posted an article about protecting your car registration from potential burglars (BURGLARIES- Burglars Finding Your Home Through Your Car Registration).

In its April 2012 issue, The Mill Creek View has published another way to protect your car registration suggested by the Mill Creek Police Department:

• Make a copy of your car registration. Place the original in a safe place such as a safe in your house or a safety deposit box.
• Black out the last name, street address, city, state and zip code. Leave at least your first name visible so than a police officer can compare it with the name on your driver's license. Make sure that no one can hold the copy up to the light and read the personal information.
• Also, leave the bar code on the top, the VIN number, and license plate number visible. As long as the bar code, VIN, and license number are visible then you have the legally required information that a police officer might need in a traffic stop.

No matter what you do, protecting the information on your car registration has become important to remove opportunity for a burglar or ID thief to make you a victim.

GOLD CREEK/SILVER FIRS- Burglaries Galore

The Gold Creek Neighborhood Watch reports at least three burglaries in the Gold Creek/Silver Firs area over the last few days:

On Monday night, April 17, in Silver Firs near 58^th Dr SE and 147^th St SE, someone attempted to break into a home by kicking in the back door, while the resident and her 3 small children were at home. She called 911 and deputies showed up immediately, but they could not find the person or persons that had attempted to break in to the home.

According to the deputies, there has been a recent rash of burglaries in the Mill Creek, Snohomish and Everett areas. This is the 3rd burglary or attempt in Silver Firs/Gold Creek in the past few days.

A home in Gold Creek 1 was burglarized on Sunday afternoon, April 15. This happened in the vicinity of 65th Ave SE and 154th St SE between 1:00pm and 3:30pm. Items were stolen from the home. Another home was burglarized in Silver Firs a couple of days before, which was followed by a large manhunt.

On a separate note, Friday evening, April 13, two of the locking mail box units that service 24 homes were pull off of their mounts, in Gold Creek.

NOTE: As I have reported over the past few months, burglaries are up in South Snohomish County, and apparently the burglars have migrated to our area. With the longer days of spring and summer, we can expect more activity in the near future. This might be a good time to review our burglary prevention practices.

Take a look at this tip sheet from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/Residential%20Burglary.pdf

Also, if you haven’t had a chance, it might be a good idea to do a home security self -inspection. Go to this link for the National Sheriff’s Association’s home security checklist:

http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/Homesecurity.pdf

And, burglars often do their thing when their victims are on vacation. Check out this vacation checklist for simple and practical things you can do to prevent a burglary while you are away:

http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/VacationCheckList.pdf

APPLE TREE- Suspicious Person and Burglary Attempt

Suspicious person in Apple Tree. While leaving their house in Thursday morning, April 12, a neighbor spotted a vehicle entering the neighborhood (46th Ave) at a slow rate of speed. It attracted the neighbor's attention and when they slowed to take a closer look, the driver (who was wearing sunglasses) looked down and away. The neighbor drove a bit further and stopped. The driver of the other vehicle did a U turn and left the neighborhood. It appears that he did not belong in the neighborhood and was uncomfortable that he had drawn attention to himself. The vehicle was an older model dark green Chevrolet pick-up, black canopy, with a damaged right headlight. The license started with A153. The driver was mid to late 20s, black hair, was wearing oversize sunglasses, was of dark complexion (perhaps Latino?), and appeared to have a bandana around his forehead. If anyone else spots this vehicle in the neighborhood, they should pay attention.

Burglary attempt in Apple Tree. A homeowner received a call at work on Monday evening, April 9, from their neighbor who said their alarm was going off. A white male had been spotted coming from the backyard through the trees and another neighbor was chasing the suspect down the street on foot.  (NOTE: It is NOT advised to try to catch a suspect yourself...just get all the details you can, like license plate, description, photo, and call 9-1-1). A getaway vehicle rushed down the street for the suspect to jump in. Another neighbor driving into the area saw what was going on and followed the suspects by car and called 9-1-1. The homeowner's glass on the back door behind the house was smashed, causing the alarm to sound. It is unknown if anything was taken.

Deputies caught at least one suspect, who it is said, lives in the area and is well known to police.

GOLD CREEK- Package Stolen

At 5:30, on Friday, April 13, a large (6 x2 ft) package was stolen from the front porch of a home in the 15200 block of 67th Ave SE in Gold Creek.

The package had arrived just a few minutes earlier and the occupants had checked on it at 5:25. At 5:30 they were heading out to the front when they saw a woman wearing a baseball cap get into a new Ford Edge (sea foam green with 5-spoke wheels) that was parked at the curb directly in front of the house. As the woman drove off to the south she even waved at the occupants.

The car being parked there seemed suspicious so they checked and found the package had been stolen.

Although there did not appear to be a passenger in the car, surveillance cameras on the next house south of theirs confirmed the description of the car and showed a passenger in the front seat – but were not able to get the license plate number.

The police responded and looked at the video to confirm the car’s description.

BURGLARIES- Burglars Finding Your Home Through Your Car Registration

Last week, the local media covered a series of burglaries on the east side where the victims went out to see a movie only to return to their cars and discover that it had been broken into. When the police arrived, they asked if the owners had their car registration. Then they made a discovery that the registration had been stolen. On a check of the house, the police and the victims discovered that their houses had been burglarized. The burglars, went to the cinema parking lot, took the registration where they could see the victim’s home address, and then made a beeline to the house while the victims were at the movies.

The press depicted this as a new technique. However, this method of burglary has been going on for a few years but has not received much publicity. Theft of your car registration can be used not only to burglarize your house while you are at the movies, at a restaurant or shopping, but also for ID theft.

Ways to prevent theft of your car registration include locking it in your glove box, or taking it with you in your wallet or purse.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/crime-law/new-crime-trend-gives-bad-ending-night-movies/nMThb/

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Car-registration-fueled-thefts-spreading-on-Eastside-146747445.html

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Thieves-may-be-targeting-people-they-see-heading-into-movie-theater-146612045.html