Identity theft can be high tech, low tech or, as in the case of Tulsa, Oklahoma native Peter Thomas, distinctly no tech.  Thomas had personal and financial information stolen from mail contained in his mailbox at the apartment complex where he lives.  I have often warned people about the danger of having your mail, such as credit card bills or bank statements stolen from your personal mailbox.  In addition, many people put themselves in great danger of identity theft by putting their outgoing mail in their mailbox and put up the red flag to alert the postman that there is mail to be picked up.  Unfortunately, that is also an alert to identity thieves cruising the neighborhood of mail to be easily stolen.

In the case of Peter Thomas, his mailbox should have been secured as it was locked, however, the locking systems of mailboxes in apartment complexes are often not particularly secure.

TIPS

In order to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft through your mailbox, you should make sure that it is securely locked so that it is not easily accessed by your friendly neighborhood identity thief and when it comes to outgoing mail, don’t put it in your mailbox for your postal carrier to pick up regardless of how convenient it may be to do so.  In fact, identity thieves have been known to steal mail from the U.S. Postal Service mailboxes found on the corners of major streets so, in order to be safe, you should mail your outgoing mail at the post office.   It may seem like this is being a bit excessive when it comes to protecting your mail, but remember, even paranoids have enemies.