Mailbox flags may be tipping off thieves
'Mailboxes are no longer sacred.' - Senior Dep. Eric Buschow Thousand Oaks P.D
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

JOE BINOYA/Acorn Newspapers A RED FLAG--Ann Prehn of Thousand Oaks puts mail in her mailbox. In the wake of a rash of thefts from mailboxes, authorities this week warned residents to protect themselves.

Residents who pay bills by putting a check in an envelope, placing the letter in a mailbox outside their home and pulling up the little red flag are making it too easy for thieves in Thousand Oaks.

"Mailboxes are no longer sacred," Senior Dep. Eric Buschow said.

At one time those small boxes outside homes seemed to be untouchable because of the strict penalties set by the federal government for anyone who tampered with them.

Now there are thieves who drive around town opening one mailbox after another, emptying them of all of their contents, he said.

Sometimes, when investigating other criminal activities, police will run across piles of stolen mail, Buschow said.

From March 25 through April 1, Thousand Oaks homeowners' mailboxes were targeted by thieves said to have stolen checks and then used chemicals to remove the original handwritten ink. Outgoing mail was allegedly taken from bill payments left inside mailboxes.

The East County forgery and fraud unit personnel discovered the suspects took the bill payments containing checks, washed the writing off the checks, filled them out again with different amounts and information, and tried to cash them at several banks.

Investigators have identified two people suspected of involvement in the recent thefts, after they allegedly attempted to cash stolen checks at banks in the San Fernando Valley, Buschow said.

"With identity theft being such a commonly reported crime, nobody should be leaving their outgoing bills in a residential mailbox," said Capt. Randy Pentis of the Thousand Oaks Police Department. "They should be taken to the post office or handed directly to a postal worker."

Mailbox thieves want checks, cash, credit card applications, bank account statements and anything else containing personal information they can use to steal identities or to get somebody else's money into their pockets.

These are crimes that do not go unpunished. According to officials at the United States Post Office, U.S. postal inspectors who investigate mail theft arrested more than 6,000 theft suspects last year.

The crime can become a nightmare for its victims. Oftentimes they do not know what happened to them until they learn their bills have been unpaid, Buschow explained.

There are some tips to help protect everyone from mail thieves.

•Use the letter slots inside the post office to mail letters or personally hand them to a letter carrier.

•Deposit mail in blue collection boxes before the last pick-up time that appears on the schedule on each box. If it says 3:30 p.m., don't put a letter in at 3:35 p.m. because that box will not be emptied again until the next day. Thieves go mailbox fishing in the dark of night using contraptions with string to pull letters out of the box.

•Promptly remove mail from your mailbox after delivery, especially if you're expecting checks, credit cards or other valuable items. If you won't be home when the items are expected, ask a trusted friend or neighbor to pick up your mail.

•Don't leave delivered mail in the mailbox overnight. Don't put outgoing mail in the mailbox to be left overnight. Remember, that red flag does not signal only the mail carrier.

•Don't send cash in the mail.

•Ask your bank for secure checks that are more difficult to alter, and use ink pens that do not dissolve as easily when chemically washed by thieves. Or pay bills online.

•When going out of town, ask the post office to hold delivery. A mail hold can be initiated by filling out a postcard at the post office or by going online to USPS.com.

People can be vulnerable even if they have secure checks, use the right pens and take other precautions because thieves just keep changing their game to adjust to what citizens and law enforcement do, Buschow said.

Anyone who believes their mail has been stolen should report it immediately to the Thousand Oaks postmaster, file a mail theft report with postal inspectors by calling toll-free (877) 876-2455, or complete a report online at USPS.com/postalinspectors.

Those who see something suspicious, such as someone other than an actual USPS carrier driving around taking items out of mailboxes, should report it to the police.

 

IN A NUTSHELL

 

U.S. Postal Service

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses,six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services--not tax dollars--to pay for operating expenses. USPS has annual revenues of $73 billion and delivers nearly half the world's mail.