What are thieves stealing in the mail?

Thieves, officials say, are generally looking for two things in the mail: checks and “arrow keys.” Thieves can fraudulently cash checks or use personal identifying information and account information to perpetrate identity fraud, according to federal law enforcement officials. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a nationwide alert about mail-based check fraud in February. The bulletin to financial institutions stated that officials noticed an uptick in criminals targeting postal workers and mailboxes since the start of the pandemic. In 2022, financial institutions issued more than 680,000 suspicious activity reports related to check fraud, the Treasury Department reported. Criminals have also targeted postal workers for “arrow keys,” which open public mailboxes or clusters of mailboxes in a neighborhood or apartment building. The Postal Service’s inspector general in 2020 found that the mail agency did not have an inventory of its arrow keys and could not keep track of which ones were lost or stolen . Robberies of mail carriers are up 78 percent in 2023 , the Associated Press reported in May, citing data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

What is the Postal Service doing about it?

The Postal Service has its own law enforcement agency, the Postal Inspection Service. It has 500 uniformed officers stationed at post offices to protect employees and customers, and another 1,300 inspectors that investigate crimes involving the mail system, according to its annual report to Congress. In May, the Postal Service announced plans to replace 12,000 collection boxes with new high-security boxes, which make theft more difficult. The Postal Service will also replace 49,000 locks with electronic locking devices, so criminals will have less incentive to target mail carriers on the street and won’t have as much access to mailboxes.

What more could the Postal Service do to protect the mail?

The Inspection Service in 2020 reversed a decades-long policy and prohibited its uniformed postal police officers from leaving agency facilities to escort postal workers delivering in dangerous areas or patrol public mailboxes. Inspection Service officials have said the agency needs those officers to remain at postal installations to protect employees and customers. “The postal police officers are really just restricted to our facilities and that is actually a really important role that they do play,” Eric Shen, inspector in charge of agency’s criminal investigations group, told reporters in October. “They not only are the security police force for our facilities, but for our employees in there, making sure that they’re safe as well.” The union that represents those officers, the Postal Police Officers Association, has fought that decision, and sued the Postal Service, asking a federal judge to allow the officers back on the street. The case is ongoing. Reps. Andrew R. Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) have introduced the Postal Police Reform Act to formally establish postal police officers’ jurisdiction away from mail facilities. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) have also signed on to the bill.

How should you protect your mail?

The Postal Service suggests sending and collecting mail promptly; don’t let your mail sit in the mailbox for long. You can also send mail by dropping it off at a post office or by handing it to your neighborhood letter carrier. The Postal Service also offers the free online program Informed Delivery , which provides photos of the mail and tracking information for the packages that are scheduled to be delivered each day.

Economy

Mail theft is rising. Here’s how to safeguard your envelopes.

The U.S. Postal Service plans to replace old equipment and buy electronic locks

By Jacob Bogage

July 5, 2023 at 5:46 p.m. EDT

Federal officials have said the Postal Service needs its law enforcement officers to remain at postal installations to protect employees and customers. (iStock)

4 min

Mail theft is surging, the U.S. Postal Service reports, and federal regulators have warned banks and other financial institutions of rising check fraud.

Postal officials in May announced new measures to keep the nation’s mail safe, and a bipartisan group of House lawmakers have proposed legislation to increase police presence around the mail.