In my post about holiday package scams two weeks ago, I warned about scammers who follow package delivery trucks and steal delivered packages from in front of homes before the package can be taken in. There’s another type of theft that is becoming more prevalent and it also has to do with deliveries. Instead of packages, we’re talking about mailbox skimmers, i.e., good old mail theft.
My friend and fellow Hawai’i author Kay Hadashi wrote to me and related the following story.
“I came across an interesting situation just a while ago while walking home from the supermarket. Many of the houses in the neighborhood have rural style mailboxes. Walking along, there were two women griping about how somebody had rifled through their mail. (There was a small pile of junk mail on the ground below the group of mail boxes.) As I walked, I noticed several more mailboxes hanging open, a few pieces of mail on the ground below them.
“When I rounded a corner, a woman was at another mail box, this one locking—but it had been pried open and the lock broken. I asked what happened and she said she thought someone had gotten into her mailbox. I saw several more mailboxes as I walked home. I figure someone was going through the neighborhood right after the mailman had been through and were looking for Christmas cards that might contain checks or gift cards.”
In our neighborhood, we don’t have locking mailboxes. But, when we moved in a few years ago, I noticed how many of the neighbors picked up their mail within minutes of delivery. Certainly, not everyone can do this. However, mailbox skimmers practice this type of theft regularly. Once we’re into the new year, the mailbox skimmers will be looking for tax documents as well as checks and information they can use to steal identities. The best way to avoid this type of theft is to move everything possible to electronic delivery. If that’s not possible and you can’t get to your mail right away, it’s best to keep track of what should arrive when. That way, if something is missing, you can take steps to solve the problem before it goes too far.
