Mail theft is illegal and can result in fines and prison sentences. It often occurs at delivery points and is used to obtain personal information for identity theft. Precautions include taking sensitive mail directly to the post office and securing publicly accessible mailboxes.
Mail theft is the act of a person taking, destroying, or otherwise altering another person’s mail for the purpose of hindering or learning the other person’s secrets, business, and personal information. It is generally illegal in most countries and can be an extremely serious crime in certain situations and areas which punish it accordingly. In the United States (USA), for example, mail theft is said to be the most common form of white-collar crime and is punishable under federal law by hefty fines and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
The crime of mail theft often occurs at the point of delivery, such as at a private mailbox, a common shared mailbox such as found in apartment buildings and people’s homes, although it can occur directly from a postal vehicle or at the post office itself. In the latter situations, these offenses are often committed by someone employed by the Post Office or by someone who is permitted access by an employee. At mail delivery locations, mail theft can be committed by anyone from other residents of shared mailboxes, to neighbors or strangers who pass by and notice the vulnerable mail.
Mail theft is commonly committed to obtain personal information from other people, such as social security numbers, credit card information, and checking account numbers and information. This information can be used to perform other forms of theft directly, or it can be used by a person to perform identity theft on the victim. Identity theft is the use of someone’s personal information by another person to have the perpetrator use the victim’s identity to make illegal purchases on behalf of the victim.
With the rise of online marketing and shopping widely available through the internet, identity theft has become a very lucrative field of fraud. While mail theft isn’t the only way to gain access to the information needed to commit identity theft, it has often been used for such purposes. To avoid these types of crimes, people should take some precautions to avoid mail theft and other people having access to their private information.
Law enforcement professionals suggest taking mail with sensitive information, such as bill payments or credit card applications, directly to the post office and not simply leaving it in an accessible mailbox. Similarly, publicly accessible mailboxes should be secured whenever possible and mail should be collected immediately after delivery. Additional steps can also be taken, for example when people go on holiday they need to notify the post office so their mail can be held until they return.
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