Is The USPS Helping Identity Theft Criminals Steal Your Identity?
What You Need to Know About USPS and Identity Theft
You'd like to think that the government works for us, not against us - especially when it comes to identity theft. It seems, however, that the United States Postal Service has actually helped identity theft criminals in some instances. If you want to make sure the USPS doesn't help steal your identity, here are some things you need to know...
One Woman's Nightmare
One day a 56-year-old woman from New York received a change of address confirmation in her mailbox. Apparently, her mail had been being forwarded to another address for a few weeks. The problem was, she never requested the change. An identity theft criminal did.
In the weeks it took her to catch on to the fact, someone had racked up thousands of dollars of debt in her name. How did it happen? The criminal filled out a change of address form, forwarding this woman's mail to the criminal's address and no one was the wiser. Apparently, the post office doesn't require any ID when this form is filled out. Technically, you could run to the post office and have your neighbor's mail forwarded to your home and no one would check your story.
What You Need to Do
If you notice your mail isn't arriving like it should be, contact your post office. Don't assume that a week of nothing but junk mail is normal. Your real mail might be in the hands of a low-life jerk. That means your bank statements, credit card statements and new credit card accounts are all in the wrong hands. If you go two or three days without the normal volume of mail, contact the post office and ask them to look into it. It's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to identity theft.