More mail identity theft - See below for our thoughts, take home message

According to WVNS-CBS 59, city police in Beckley, West Virginia have arrested mail thief Amanda McKinney and charged her with forgery in a mail theft scheme. The story, covered here, states that McKinney stole mail from her victims and fraudulently cashed checks she found. Police apparently had a difficult time making an arrest in the case because many of the victims were not aware their identities had been compromised. Sound familiar?

Speaking of familiar, is it just me… or do all of these mail thieves look the same?

photo source

Remember?

• Newcastle CA Mail Identity Theft
• Another Typical Mail Identity Theft Story
• Mail Theft in Idaho - Who Would’ve Thought?

Anyway, we publish a lot of stories on mail thieves, victims of identity theft and more here, but in addition to generating consumer awareness on the prevalence of mail identity theft (read: scaring people), we also like to offer a solution.

So just to remind all of our readers, here is what to do if your mail is stolen (briefly):

1. Issue a fraud alert immediately
2. Report the theft to the USPIS
3. File a complaint with the FTC
4. Don’t be a victim: Secure your mail!

Remember, as noted in the story above, many victims do not realize that their mail has been stolen. So the absolute BEST DEFENSE against mail identity theft is PREVENTION.

In Summary: Get a high quality security locking mailbox to secure your incoming mail (you can buy the Mail Boss from your local Ace Hardware), only use the blue USPS secure mailboxes to send sensitive outgoing mail, and shred all sensitive mail before discarding it. Cover these three bases, and you can seriously reduce your risk of becoming a victim of mail identity theft.

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