My Identity Got Lost in the Mail!

By Dawn Handschuh, Personal Finance Writer   

Each day, identity thieves get another 668 million chances to commit identity theft. That's how many pieces of mail the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) typically delivers daily.

Most of us rely on the post office to deliver and receive all sorts of confidential information, from checks and tax documents to pre-approved credit offers and brokerage and bank account statements.

Documents like these represent the Promised Land to identity thieves who steal names, Social Security numbers, account numbers and even written confirmation of online password changes to spend money and open new accounts in your name.

Opportunists act on impulse to get easy money. More sophisticated criminals study mail routes and delivery schedules to time their thefts and hit as many mailboxes — particularly apartment panel mailboxes and the cluster boxes in newer subdivisions — as they can. Criminals have impersonated mail carriers to steal freely from mailboxes without arousing attention.

Mail theft resulting in identity theft is a coast-to-coast phenomenon.

Eugene, Oregon
A ring of methamphetamine users prowled neighborhoods, raiding mailboxes and the local recycling center for pre-approved credit card applications. They netted $400,000 from 400 credit card accounts before being busted.¹

Meth use and mail ID theft often coincide because of the nature of the meth high. Unlike other illegal drugs that induce sleep or violent behavior, a meth high can keep addicts awake for days at a time and seemingly willing to do the tedious work of a mail identity thief sorting through piles of mail.

Fairfax, Virginia
A Nigerian national used a butter knife to forcibly open apartment mailboxes, stealing $250,000 from victims.²

Oakland, California
Alert residents realized the driver of a white Jeep was an identity thief when he approached numerous mailboxes in neighborhoods immediately after mail delivery. (The USPS auctions off postal jeeps to the public after removing its insignia.)

New York
Police arrested a man who purchased a Lincoln Navigator using a stolen credit card for the down payment.²

San Francisco
A 26-year-old stole 7,000 pieces of mail and kept files on his victims for years before he was caught.³

Footnotes

¹ The Meth Connection to Identity Theft," MSNBC, March 10, 2004
² A Message From the Chief Postal Inspector, 2002 Annual Report of Investigations of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, December 2002
³ "The Thief is in the Mail,"Identity Theft 911, January 2004