And what you can do to protect yourself is to put mail into a blue box as close to the collection time as possible, and if you’re still unsure about it, walk it into your post office and put it in the slot in your post office lobby. "I just put a check for a personal bill payment in a blue box, myself. It happened in Mill Creek in the 9802 zip. On Tuesday, a mail carrier says a group of thieves started a conversation with her and distracted her long enough to grab her master key. "Here at the postal inspection service, we want to keep the mail stream as safe as possible, and we want to tell the American people we are working very hard to do so," Martel said. It’s a mail thief’s dream, stealing a Postal Service master key to all the mailboxes and blue collection bins in two zip codes. RELATED: USPS letter carrier robbed at gunpoint in Potomac $50K reward offered in case
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Of the 98, only three arrow keys have been recovered." All four face federal charges of mail theft, robbery and illegal possession of USPS master keys, called arrow or universal. The issue has gotten so bad that during that same September hearing, the National President for the Postal Police Officers Association, Frank Albergo, said a local Philadelphia news station reported, "98 arrow keys were stolen from January 2019 to February 2022. The Postal Inspection Service has dedicated resources to investigating illegal conduct on these platforms and will continue to monitor and protect against new threats as they change and evolve," "The growth of the dark web and encrypted messaging services have allowed criminals to traffic in financial instruments and personally identifiable information that can be taken from the mail in a much more organized and sophisticated manner. While many instances of mail theft have traditionally been relatively unsophisticated and perpetrated by lone actors, recent trends demonstrate more organized criminal groups are seeking to steal identities and financial instruments from the mail," Delaware-Pennsylvania-2 District Manager Gary Varccarella said during a September 2022 testimony in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations hearing. "The increase in theft and associated robberies include a shift in how mail thieves operate. Authorities are warning residents in Duluth to be vigilant with their mail after a master key was stolen. Other incidents have also recently been reported across the region. A suspect also robbed a mail carrier at around 11:43 a.m. Updated: 5:41 PM EST Tolly Taylor Reporter BALTIMORE Mail thieves are using unsecured or unaccounted for master keys that U.S. This past Friday, police said a suspect robbed a Prince George’s County mail carrier at gunpoint on Dutch Village Drive near Sheriff Road in Landover, Maryland. READ MORE: 6 mail carriers robbed at gunpoint over 2 day period in DC, Maryland: officials Someone scrubbed certain information on the check and tried to cash it for nearly $2,000. Octo/ 10:46 PM CDT / CBS Chicago CHICAGO (CBS) - Thieves have been using master keys to steal mail and police have been tracking them for months yet its still happening. He dropped off the check at a nearby blue mailbox and later showed FOX 5 the same check had been flagged by the bank. Last year, FOX 5 reported on a Montgomery County man who tried to pay a $35 bill by sending a check in the mail. The postal inspector did explain that the electric interface creates a two-step system to access the blue drop-off boxes that are being used in the pilot program.
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However, he did confirm the District is involved in this pilot program. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.ĭownload the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.įollow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter.For security reasons, the postal inspector did not say where these safety measures have been added or how many boxes in the greater D.C. In a statement, a spokesperson for the USPS said postal robberies carry severe penalties - federal prison terms of up to 25 years for armed robbery of a postal employee or Post Office.
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When one is taken - it can lead to a spike in checks, credit cards, and gifts stolen from the mail. Apartment management said they spoke to USPS and USPS said that the master key was stolen and that is how the thieves got into the mailboxes. Robberies of postal carriers jumped 78 percent last year to nearly 500 nationwide, according to USPS.Ģ5 investigates has told you about six in Boston since 2022.Ĭriminals target letter carriers to get their master or “arrow keys”. There’s a similar reward for information leading to a conviction in that case.Ģ5 Investigates has been telling you about these robberies for more than a year now. The USPS also made us aware of another postal worker robbery from late last month - it happened shortly before noon in the area of Whitfield Road in Dorchester on September 22.