Clark Howard: Mailbox crimes on the rise

Jacksonville, FL — Criminals are taking advantage of a service offered by the United States Postal Office to steal people’s packages, bank account information and more. Consumer Warrior Clark Howard says this crime isn’t anything new but more criminals are getting involved.

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The United States Postal Service (USPS) offers Informed Delivery. This service allows someone to digitally preview their mail along with managing their packages that are set to arrive soon. Clark says criminals are registering for this service lying about the address they're signing up with.

"They see what mail is coming and they intercept from your mailbox things that would allow them to steal your credit card number, steal checks, and steal your identity."

Clark says the Postal Service does not have enough security in place to prevent this from happening. The only solution, according to Clark is to put in a locked mailbox until USPS suspends the service. He says this also prevents someone from snooping inside another person’s mailbox.