Westchester DA Calls For Postal Service To Stem Mail Thefts

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. sent letters to Sen. Charles Schumer, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, Rep. Nita Lowey and Rep. Elliot Engel this week calling on them to pressure the U.S. Postal Service to focus its attention and manpower on ending the rash of mail theft in communities throughout the county.

In recent months, police in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Tarrytown, Harrison, Purchase, Bronxville, New Rochelle, North Castle and other communities have been investigating incidents where

• Curbside mailboxes were broken into either forcibly or by using a stolen key
• Curbside mailboxes were stolen outright
• Thieves used fishing techniques to take mail out of mailboxes
• Household rural-style mailboxes were emptied of their contents

The Outcome: Thieves take checks or financial documents with personal identification which can be used for identity theft and financial fraud. In some cases, checks are “washed,” meaning cleaned and erased of original information, and the “Payable to” or payable amount or both are changed. They are then cashed or fraudulently deposited. Several arrests have been made.

Victims: In some cases, residents were accused of not paying their bills on time when checks were stolen. Others have reported being victims of identity theft. Others who sent money orders, which work like cash, lost the stolen money and still owed their recipient with no way to recoup the payment.

U.S. Postal Inspectors are charged with monitoring how mail is processed and delivered. And while inspectors continue to work in our area, Scarpino contends there are not enough inspectors to keep up with the criminal activity we are seeing in our cities and towns. He said there are only six postal inspectors, a team leader and one analyst budgeted to oversee much of the Hudson Valley, specifically Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Sullivan, Dutchess and parts of Columbia, Greene and Delaware counties.

And Scarpino said he's been told they have been short-staffed, down to three inspectors for some time, and now, there are only five.

In his letter to Westchester’s congressional members, Scarpino wrote:

“Our office has been working with postal inspectors and local law enforcement to catch these thieves. Unfortunately, the number of postal inspectors assigned to Westchester is woefully inadequate.

“We need you to intervene immediately with the United States Postal Service to have it initiate a comprehensive program to aggressively address this problem. Our constituents deserve better. This is a serious problem that has victimized thousands of innocent people.”

The District Attorney’s Office will continue to work with local law enforcement to both protect our residents from this kind criminal activity and aggressively prosecute those involved.

TIPS:

In the meantime, residents can help protect themselves:

• Do not place checks in mailboxes. Use online payment instead.
• Write checks with gel-style ink that cannot be erased or “washed” like ink from a standard ballpoint pen.
• Check your credit card and bank statements daily for any unusual activity.
• If you think you have been the victim of fraud, the Federal Trade Commission strongly suggests you set up a “Fraud Alert” with credit bureaus. Follow the FTC’s instructions here.

Photo credit: USPS.