I wasn't quite sure where to put this, but I thought I would share some information.
When I moved to AZ I was informed that ID theft was extremely high in this state and to make sure I cross-shredded everything. What I wasn't prepared for was mail theft. I heard about a few incidents from customers at the post office and in all cases these were homeowners with the regular pillar-box at the end of the driveway. I live in a condo community with lock boxes and presumed this was secure or at least more secure than an open box.
About 10 days ago I received a notice from USPS that our mail box was vandalized and mail stolen. I have been able to account for all expected mail except one thing: copies of my tax return from my CPA. It was tracked and USPS is hunting. According to the tracking it was delivered a day or 2 before the USPS sent out the mail-theft notice. I hope it was a mis-delivery and someone has been slow to return it to the post office etc, but the timing is too coincidental.
I can't wait for things to show up on a credit report so I checked to see what options are available. I didn't realize you could place fraud alerts for 90 days or 7 years. For anyone else that believes they may have had mail stolen this is the fraud alert website.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
Not sure about these ID Theft protection companies and if they are of any use or just money-making schemes.
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