Mailbox Theft Leading to Identity Theft

Even years ago it was said that, “your mailbox is the riskiest non-technological point for identity theft.” With the incidences of theft out of people’s mailboxes considerably high,

To combat the rising incidences of mailbox theft, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has developed a service called “Informed Delivery” where a computer “scans the outside of your mail and shows you the images each morning before the mail is actually delivered.” You simply sign up for this service and the images are sent to you daily via email.
“While the USPS first started testing the free service more than a year ago, it’s finally rolling out nationwide for residential addresses” and has been available in almost every major metropolitan area since April 14th.

While we may not be able to thwart all mailbox or identity theft, here are some tips to follow to help ensure that it doesn’t happen to you:

• Mail checks directly from the post office rather than leaving them in your personal mailbox for the mailman to pick up
• Check your mailbox daily
• If you often receive checks in the mail, consider getting a post office box
• Freeze your credit
• Sign up for "Informed Delivery" to see exactly what should be in your mailbox daily. (Click here https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action to see if “Informed Delivery" is available in your area)
  

“If you feel you are a victim of identity theft, call one of the three national credit bureaus immediately and put a fraud alert on your accounts. All you need to do is call one, and the other credit bureaus will be notified automatically. Call one of the following bureaus for help: Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; Experian: 1-888-397-3742; TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289. Or you can go to: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/”

abcnews.go.com
techcrunch.com
usps.com