Mail theft occurs when an individual’s mail has been stolen or redirected to a new address without the individual’s knowledge. Due to the personal information often contained in official mailings, stolen mail could provide criminals with the information they need to perpetrate identity theft and other types of fraud.
PLACES TO WATCH CAREFULLY FOR FRAUD
Here are a few tips on ways to help prevent valuable information from getting into the wrong hands and reduce the chances of having your identity stolen.
MAILBOXES
- Pick up your mail as soon as possible after delivery. Avoid leaving mail in your mailbox overnight.
- Sign up for eStatements so your paper statement doesn’t go to your mailbox each month.
- If you are going on vacation, ask the post office to place a hold on your mail until you return.
- Send outgoing mail with items such as checks, gifts, and documents containing personal information from inside the post office, or give them directly to a letter carrier. Don’t leave them in freestanding mailboxes or your personal mailbox.
ACCOUNTS
- Monitor your accounts frequently. Follow up when you see unusual account activity or if you get a bill in the mail that you didn’t expect.
- If merchants refuse your payments, call your card issuer immediately. Once thieves have your personal information, like account numbers, they can exhaust your bank accounts and rack up charges on your credit cards.
CREDIT REPORT
- Review your credit report regularly and watch for accounts you did not open. In some cases of identity theft, fraudsters will open utility accounts in your name or use your health insurance fraudulently.
- Dispute any inaccuracies you find.
- “Fraudsters have become very creative with your personal information and can steal your identity long before you realize it,” Sunward Risk Manager Rachel Dimas cautions. “Sometimes they take your account number from stolen mail and match it up with someone else’s name, create fraudulent checks, and use them to make purchases. If a fraudster gets your account number, it is like gold to them.”
WHAT TO DO IF YOU'RE CONCERNED
Having fraud on your account or seeing something questionable may be alarming. Here are some steps you can take to identify and resolve mail fraud or identity theft.
- Visit an Sunward branch. We can help review your accounts to see if fraud has occurred.
- Call the police to file a report.
- Call the U.S. Postal Service at 877.876.2455 to report any mail theft.
Visit the Federal Trade Commission website for more information.
