What is Mail Identity Theft?
Dealing with Mail Identity Theft
With fraudulent activities on the rise, it is important to protect ourselves from identity thefts. More and more people are falling prey to it, and the most promising way to avoid it is to be alert. You never know when a person chooses you as their next target. Hence, be careful and always report suspicious activities.
Nothing can guarantee 100% protection from fraudulent activities. Identity thefts can be sourced from anywhere. Online shopping, telephonic conversations, mail, and more reasons lead to identity thefts. Basically, identity theft is the stealing of someone’s identity and using it without their consent.
There are many benefits availed by identity stealers, such as applying for a new credit card, making online purchases, taking out loans, and much more. The victim could suffer from serious financial loss. Sometimes, identities are stolen for criminal purposes wherein the victim could face reputation damage and legal action until proven innocent. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to understand identity theft in-depth and fight against it. You should know what to do when someone is stealing your mail or misusing your identity in some way. In this blog, you can find many ways to keep fraudsters from stealing mail and your individual identity.
What Is Mail Identity Theft?
We have all heard about packages being stolen from the mailbox. But, these thefts are no longer limited to gifts, postcards, or valuable items. Mail identity theft occurs when a person steals and uses a mailpiece to commit a certain kind of fraud. Though most identity thefts occur through digital channels, mail identity theft is real and should be paid attention to. Many criminals that do not have their hands on the digital ways to steal identities use less tech-savvy methods such as direct mail.
They look for mail items that contain full names, addresses, date of birth, bank account details, credit card information, account statements, PINs, usernames, and passwords. These things can be used in a number of ways to indirectly steal money from the person whose identity is being misused.
Direct mail senders should make sure that their mail pieces are not stolen on the way to the recipient. It can be done by real-time mail tracking and delivery confirmations. There are a number of steps that recipients can take to protect themselves from any possible mail identity thefts, which we will read further.
Mail Theft Statistics
There are several mail theft statistics to state that mail thefts are common. A lot of these thefts happen right outside the recipient’s house.
1. According to a report, the number of people who reported mail thefts increased to 43% in 2020 from 36% in 2019. Out of all the complainants, two-thirds mentioned that they had been a mail theft victim more than once. Hence, people are facing this issue several times before they can finally start doing something about it.
2. There have been cases wherein mail packages were stolen by the USPS staff itself. Though the USPS strives to keep your mail letters and parcels safe, there are a fraction of the employees who steal packages for fraudulent purposes. During the period from October 2019 to September 2020, 1,221 investigations regarding internal mail thefts were conducted, which resulted in 333 arrests.
3. The data collected by the Postal Inspection Service depicted that mail theft reports rose by about 600% from 2017 to 2020. In 2017, the total mail theft reports were around 25,000, which increased to 177,000 by 2020.
4. 4 out of 10 people face mail theft. About 40% of people reported porch piracy cases. Porch pirates snatch mail from doorsteps, stoops, and porches before the recipients can retrieve it. Porch piracy is difficult to avoid at times as these thieves cleverly steal the packages when nobody is home.
5. Talking about identity theft, 33% of US residents have faced identity theft. It is more than double the global average and more than thrice of the German and French respondents.
How do Thieves Use Your Personal Information?
Before knowing what to do if mail is stolen and how to report mail theft, you must know what types of mail items are the most at risk. Once you know that a certain type of mail item can be used for identity theft, you can be extra careful while sending and receiving it.
Bank records, statements, credit card details, and other such financial documents are most commonly stolen and used for fraudulent purposes. Sometimes, even personal, medical, business-related, and educational documents are also targeted. Basically, any direct mail piece with any type of personal information can be used by identity thieves. These documents allow thieves to have access to your social security number, social security number, birth date, and so on. Some banks also send credit cards in the mail, which can be easily stolen by thieves.
Some common approaches that thieves use to steal and misuse your mail are:
- They can re-route your mail to their address, submitting a fake Change of Address request to the USPS or other mail carrier. It can be done using even your basic details such as name and address. Once your address has been changed as per the mail carrier records, all your mail items will be delivered to the thief’s address, and your information can be misused easily.
- As said above, oftentimes, a credit card is stolen in the mail. Even if thieves get your credit card invoice, they can use the details to pay for products and services. Moreover, they can call you imposing as a credit company executive and ask you for other confidential details. Since a lot of people are initially not aware of their stolen mail, they tend to fall into their trap and let out confidential information to the thieves.
- Not only your incoming mail but also your outgoing mail is at equal risk. Your outgoing mail might contain checks or other critical documents with sensitive information. If these documents or checks are stolen, thieves might cash your checks or use your bank account information to obtain money from your account.
Ways to Fight Mail Identity Theft
You need not worry about what happens if someone steals your mail. There are a lot of things you can do to avoid mail theft or further avoid identity theft before it happens.
1. Pick Your Mail Promptly
Do not allow your mail items to accumulate in your mailbox on your front porch. It is wise always to pick up your mail as soon as you see it or know that something has arrived in the mail. Picking your mail promptly leaves behind very few chances for the thieves to see and steal your mail.
2. Ask the USPS to Hold Your Mail
In case you are going out for a weekend or planning a family vacation for a couple of days, make sure to inform the postal service about it and ask them to hold any incoming mail until you are back. This step notifies the postal workers that there is nobody at your place to receive the mail so that they do not leave back mail on your doorstep to lure out thieves. It is an important step because if a mail piece is stolen and you return home after many days, it is likely that you are going to be unaware of any mail at all.
3. Install a Doorbell Camera
Doorbell cameras are the best option if you are suspicious about something and wondering if someone is stealing my mail. Even if you do not notice any unusual events, a doorbell camera helps keep an eye on your door at all times, whether or not you are present at home. It can notify you about all incoming mail items and also alert you immediately when something wrong happens.
4. Stay Home Whenever You Are Expecting Mail
Staying in for deliveries is your best bet when you know that an important mailpiece is scheduled to arrive on a particular day. If it is not possible to stay in, you can call the postal service and ask them to reschedule the delivery time for when you are home. Alternatively, you can keep your family members or roommates informed about it so that they can receive the mail on your behalf.
5. Have Mail Sent to Your Workplace
If you know that a mail is on your way and you need to get to your office, call up the USPS office and have them deliver mail to your workplace instead. This way, you can receive your mail on the same day, and its safety can also be protected. Similarly, you can give them a friend’s or relative’s address too. A lot of people ask the postal workers to deliver their mail to a neighbor as it is the most convenient option when you live alone or there is nobody present at your home at the moment.
6. Complete Payments Online
You can choose to reduce the volume of your mail that contains personally identifiable details to prevent mail identity thefts. If you complete your payments online, you can avoid getting physical, financial records. In-store pickups are also a great way to avoid theft of mail from mailboxes. The concept of in-store pickups is to purchase and pay for an item online but go to the store yourself to pick it up rather than having it mailed to you.
7. Opt-Out
Opt-out of receiving junk mail. Get your name and address added to the National Do Not Mail lists. By getting your name added, you can control all the mail items that can or cannot be mailed to you. It is another way of reducing mail volume at your doorstep and keeping thieves away.
8. Be Aware
People need to be aware of any incoming mail. Know your mailing schedule. If you receive mail regularly, you probably know the timings and are even familiar with the delivery person. Keep an eye out for your mail items and monitor everything on a daily basis.
9. Register New Addresses Through NCOA
Inform the USPS about any address changes to avoid getting mail on your old address. This way, you can redirect your mail to your new address without any issues. If you do not notify the USPS office of a new address, they are likely to deliver to your old address where there is no one to keep an eye on your mail, and all your items can become vulnerable to thefts.
10. Confirm Any Suspicions
How to catch someone stealing your mail? You need to be alert and confirm any suspicions. If you think that a stranger is lurking around for no reason, you need to know about his intentions. File a complaint with the police if you notice something suspicious or unusual. As we discussed earlier, doorbell cameras are a good way to confirm doubts and know anything for sure. If your mailbox happens to be away from your door on the front yard, installing CCTV cameras is your next option.
11. Report Missing Mail Immediately
Reporting missing mail is possible only if you are aware of incoming mail. However, even if you happen to notice a missing or lost mail after several days, it is smart to report it. Contact the USPS and ask them for the delivery details. Cross-check the delivery date and time with your availability and try to figure out if you were there to receive the mail. In this case, you should know what mail item went missing. If it contains your bank details, inform your bank so that they can restrict online banking and look out for suspicious activities.
12. Informed Delivery
Want to receive mail alerts for free? The USPS offers a service named ‘Informed Delivery.’ The service allows you to receive emails regarding incoming mail. You can even preview your mail package, but preview images are only sent for letter-size mail items. All you have to do is sign up on informeddelivery.usps.com and create an account. Mostly, you are likely to start getting updates from around three days after you sign up. Make sure that you reside in one of the USPS’s qualifying zip codes for Informed Delivery before signing up. The USPS is working on adding more and more ZIP codes to the list.
There are some additional features that come with Informed Delivery. You can send some delivery instructions, track mail, and reschedule delivery effortlessly.
13. Use Automation
For companies that send mail, automation can help a great deal. Direct mail marketers can use a direct mail automation API like PostGrid to verify mailing beforehand and track mail in real-time. As a sender, it is your responsibility that the mail is not misplaced due to wrong or incomplete addresses. Moreover, you need to follow various laws regarding direct mail marketing, so you need to protect customer data and assure confidentiality.
PostGrid’s print and mail API can help healthcare, educational, banking, insurance, nonprofits, hospitality, real estate, dealerships, and other institutions with their direct mail activities. They can create, print, and mail their items altogether without having to worry about their deliverability. PostGrid can also help get your mail delivered faster by ways such as pre-sorting and adding Intelligent Mail Barcodes. The real-time tracking updates help you follow up with your customers and clients at the right time. Therefore, it can help you and your intended recipients both in fighting mail identity thefts.
14. Conduct Identity Theft Checks
- Regularly check your bank statements and credit reports. If there is any unfamiliar transaction recorded, immediately contact your bank or credit provider.
- Have an eye on unauthorized withdrawals and unexpected failed credit.
- Check unauthorized authentication notifications and messages for accounts not opened by you.
- If your monthly bills have stopped reaching you, contact the postal service immediately.
- You can look for some legitimate identity theft checkers to get your personal information checked for any possible data breaches.
- Set up fraud alerts for an added protected layer.
- Freeze your credit so that fraud creditors cannot apply for new credit. You can unfreeze it later if you need to apply for credit or a loan.
How to Report Stolen Mail?
1. Identity theft
There are certain steps to file a mail theft complaint. But, before knowing how to report mail theft, you should know to identify thefts. You should know that a theft has taken place. The USPS is likely to ask you the reason as to why you think that your mail has been stolen. Maybe, it is because you were aware of an incoming mail or a monthly bill didn’t arrive. Avoid throwing away mail items without reading them. They might be of no use to you but contain your personal information.
2. Describe the Package
If you were expecting mail, write down its details. It is important to note down the type of mailpiece. It could be a letter, large envelope, or parcel. If possible, find out whether the mail was sent through First Class, Priority Mail, Standard, Express, etc. Additionally, be ready with details such as the probable date of delivery and the sender’s address.
3. Identify Suspects
In case you saw someone picking an item from your doorstep, write down the person’s description in as much detail as possible. Additionally, try remembering if any stranger was seen near your mailbox or your front yard. The height, weight, color, gender, hair color, and other such body features of the suspects can help identify them and getting hold of the thief.
4. Lodge a Complaint With the USPS
Call up the USPS office in your locality and share your concerns with them. Be ready with your notes and provide detailed information if you can. The next step would be to file a complaint on the USPS website. You can either skip calling the post office and directly file the complaint online or do both. Their website will prompt you to email them your complaint.
Once your email is sent, the USPS might contact you with some follow-up questions. Take care to check your emails and respond to them as the earliest.
Your final and most important step is to inform the police, especially if your mail item contained personal and sensitive information. Mail theft is a crime and is punishable by law. If you are aware of who is stealing your mail or have any suspects in mind, share the details with the police so that they can investigate further.
Laws Regarding Mail Theft
What to do if your mail is stolen? To know the answer, you need to learn about the laws regarding mailbox frauds and package thefts. If you are wondering whether mail theft is a federal crime, the answer is yes. The USPS is a federal agency, and messing with their mail items in any way is treated as a federal offense. In this case, there is also theft involved. Hence mail theft is punishable by both federal and state laws.
Stealing someone’s mail from a post office, postbox, any place falling under the mail route, mail carrier, or a delivery person is punishable by law under Title 18 USC § 1708. The accused may be fined up to $250,000, imprisoned for up to 5 years, or both.
Oftentimes, there is confusion between mail stolen from mailboxes or other places and mail that was either misaddressed or misdelivered. Misdelivered mail is when a mail is mistakenly delivered to the wrong address by the USPS. On the other hand, when a sender mentions the wrong address on a mail item, it is considered as misaddressed mail. Misaddressed mail recipients are not guilty as per title 18 USC § 1708, but misdelivered mail recipients who do not return the mail item to the USPS can be treated as guilty.
There are various laws that cover identity theft though there are no specific laws for mail identity theft. The accused shall be punished under title 18 USC § 1708 along with other related identity theft laws.
Conclusion
Mail theft can be avoided in a lot of ways, but for that, you need to know that theft is happening. Hence, be aware and alert at all times and check your mail items immediately after receiving them. Commonly, identity thieves use digital channels to steal personal information. However, you should never rule out mail identity theft.
By taking some basic steps, you can protect yourself from any mail thefts. Take help from the USPS and direct mail automation solutions to verify addresses, track mail, and be aware of your mail.
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