South Snohomish County Crime Watch Hot Sheet: MAIL THEFT- How to Prevent Your Mail from Being Stolen

Friday, February 22, 2019

MAIL THEFT- How to Prevent Your Mail from Being Stolen

Mail theft remains a problem in our community. Mail thieves look for documents that they can use for identity theft such as checks, bank statements with account numbers, IRS documents with Social Security Numbers, etc. With tax season in full swing, correspondence between the IRS and homeowners make for appealing targets for mail thieves.

Mail thieves take the easiest opportunities to steal mail. Usually this means taking from unlocked mail boxes that they find along the road or street. They will sift through the mail, take what they want, then dump it on the side of the road.

There are actions that you can take to prevent your mail from being stolen:

Use a locked mail box to receive your mail. The box should be made with heavy gauge steel and small mail slots. Some locking units come in four, six, eight or more compartments so that neighbors can get together to protect their mail. These units often have a secure outgoing mail box. You can also find single locking mail boxes.

Leave outgoing mail at the post office or a blue postal service mail box. With the typical residential mail box, leaving the flag up when you have outgoing mail is a signal to a mail thief that there is mail to take. This is especially true for checks that you send out or mail with sensitive information.

Don’t leave mail overnight whether it is incoming or outgoing. Pick up your mail as soon as you can.

Reduce the number of bills that you receive and bills that you pay via the mail by having vendors email invoices to you and use your bank’s bill pay service to pay your bills. Bill pay is a secure system to pay your bills.

When you order your checks from your bank or credit union, pick them up at a local branch. A box full of blank checks is a bonanza for a mail thief.

When you are on a trip, have a trusted neighbor or friend pick up your mail while you are gone. You can also have your local post office hold your mail while you are away. And you can easily set this up online at https://holdmail.usps.com/holdmail/.

Sign up for Informed Delivery from the Postal Service. Informed Delivery tells you what mail is on the way to your mailbox. In a daily email, the Postal Service can show you a greyscale image of the exterior of any letter sized mail. This allows you to be alerted to any important mail that may have sensitive account or other information that is on the way to your mailbox. With Informed Delivery you can also track packages that will be delivered by your letter carrier.