Is your mail getting to thieves before it gets to you?
Informed Delivery is a free United States Postal Service (USPS) program as a way to keep an eye out for your important deliveries. Pictures of mail that is being processed for your address are emailed to consumers after signing up for an account and verifying your identity.
Related: USPSprogram lets you look at mail before it's delivered
The problem is, crooks may be doing the same thing.
According to a report from Krebsonsecurity.com, the US Secret Service sent an alert to law enforcement agencies warning that thieves may be using the program pretending to be consumers and intercepting their mail. The report references mail theft prosecutions out of Michigan, Texas, and Florida.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the USPS in Phoenix tells me 13 million people use the service and "in very few cases, an individual's identity has already been compromised by a criminal who then has used it to set up an informed delivery account."
That means someone who already has your personal information could use it to access your mail.
The good news? You can opt out of allowing any accounts for your address.
You can do that by calling 1-800-344-7779 or contacting USPS here.
