Thieves steal mail to gain access to information for identity theft

It all started when the mail stopped coming for a week or so.

Kalin McKenna and her husband, Roy Vincent, said someone opened multiple credit cards, racked up thousands of dollars of debt, and even stole McKenna’s name.

The scheme is clever and lucrative, and it appears as a case of stolen mail.

“Saturday night, all of the sudden, her phone started blowing up and she goes, 'I’m getting all these calls from these credit card companies,'” Vincent explained.

According to the police report, someone used a fake ID to put a hold on the family’s mail. That way, the thieves could pick up the mail whenever they wanted, and get all the personal information they needed on McKenna to open up several lines of credit.

“To see someone else’s face with my information was the most violating thing I’ve ever experienced,” McKenna said, regarding the fake ID.

Vincent said that, in 11 days, the woman applied for no fewer than 20 lines of credit, 12 T-Mobile lines and tried to buy a dog and ship it from Florida.

“She rented a car,” Vincent explained.  “We had to call them to make sure she actually returned that.  She did, she’s very punctual.”

Anna Weller, a postal inspector with the United States Postal Service, said she cannot comment on an open investigation, but says there are some things consumers can do to protect themselves from identity and mail thieves.

“One of those things is called Informed Delivery,” Weller explained.  “Once you sign up, it sends you an email every morning to let you know what mail is being delivered to your mailbox.”

The free program sends a photocopy of your mail that will be delivered every day. If something’s missing, you can report it online right away.

>>RELATED: Bug makes some private Facebook posts public, affects possibly 14M users

But it’s too little, too late for McKenna and Vincent.

“It should be far harder for them to just intercept our mail,” Vincent said.  “We have no idea how many other accounts are just sitting out there with our name on it."

To learn more about Informed Delivery, click here.

Cox Media Group