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US Secret Service Warns ID Thieves are Abusing USPS's Mail Scanning Service (krebsonsecurity.com)
Brian Krebs reports: A year ago, KrebsOnSecurity warned that "Informed Delivery," a new offering from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) that lets residents view scanned images of all incoming mail, was likely to be abused by identity thieves and other fraudsters unless the USPS beefed up security around the program and made it easier for people to opt out. This week, the U.S. Secret Service issued an internal alert warning that many of its field offices have reported crooks are indeed using Informed Delivery to commit various identity theft and credit card fraud schemes.
The internal alert -- sent by the Secret Service on Nov. 6 to its law enforcement partners nationwide -- references a recent case in Michigan in which seven people were arrested for allegedly stealing credit cards from resident mailboxes after signing up as those victims at the USPS's Web site. According to the Secret Service alert, the accused used the Informed Delivery feature "to identify and intercept mail, and to further their identity theft fraud schemes."
The internal alert -- sent by the Secret Service on Nov. 6 to its law enforcement partners nationwide -- references a recent case in Michigan in which seven people were arrested for allegedly stealing credit cards from resident mailboxes after signing up as those victims at the USPS's Web site. According to the Secret Service alert, the accused used the Informed Delivery feature "to identify and intercept mail, and to further their identity theft fraud schemes."
They only give you photos of your flat mail. Packages don't seem to get photographed, ever, even just padded envelopes. So the stuff I want most to know about, they don't tell me about.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It makes it easier to know when you should pilfer the mail of your victim.
The majority of rural delivery boxes can't be locked, because the rural carrier would not be able to open them to deliver mail. And locked group mailboxes are only as secure as the keyed-alike master key.