The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said people should avoid using blue drop-off boxes at post offices, if possible. This is because, they said, thieves are breaking into them and stealing mail in order to get personal information. “Someone opened an account with three lines, all in your name. We just received a $330 bill.”That’s the message St. Tammany nonprofit board member Terry King received yesterday when he was told three new lines were opened under a Verizon account with his name. He believes someone stole his mail and used his information to open these lines.“I would say I was quite upset because it took three hours out of my day yesterday, just to fix something that really completely was fraudulent and was easy to fix, thank God nobody got any real money out of it. But yeah, it’s very frustrating,” King said. Things like this are becoming more common, according to law enforcement. They said people need to take mail inside in order to avoid theft.St. Tammany officials also said they’re working with other law enforcement in the area on the issue.“We work very closely with a lot of our local agencies, as well as our state and local partners because so many times these financial crimes, they’re perpetrated over various jurisdictions around us and even in other states,” said Capt. Chad Hartzog with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said people should avoid using blue drop-off boxes at post offices, if possible. This is because, they said, thieves are breaking into them and stealing mail in order to get personal information.
“Someone opened an account with three lines, all in your name. We just received a $330 bill.”
Advertisement
That’s the message St. Tammany nonprofit board member Terry King received yesterday when he was told three new lines were opened under a Verizon account with his name. He believes someone stole his mail and used his information to open these lines.
“I would say I was quite upset because it took three hours out of my day yesterday, just to fix something that really completely was fraudulent and was easy to fix, thank God nobody got any real money out of it. But yeah, it’s very frustrating,” King said.
Things like this are becoming more common, according to law enforcement. They said people need to take mail inside in order to avoid theft.
St. Tammany officials also said they’re working with other law enforcement in the area on the issue.
“We work very closely with a lot of our local agencies, as well as our state and local partners because so many times these financial crimes, they’re perpetrated over various jurisdictions around us and even in other states,” said Capt. Chad Hartzog with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office.