Mail theft and resulting identity fraud in Orcutt and Santa Maria last month
ORCUTT, Calif. - An Orcutt woman says someone stole her mail, and now she fears her personal information is compromised.
Anyone currently expecting important items in the mail such as w-2s, paychecks, or any other sensitive material, may want to start checking your mailbox more frequently.
Last month, Kelly Ayers of Orcutt expected a new box of checks from her bank.
When she checked her condo complex’s mailbox, she discovered the back wide open and no mail inside for anyone.
“On January 24th, which was a Friday, my nephew sent me a picture and said, Kelly, I think someone's broken into the mailboxes. And he was expecting something to come in the mail. He was quite concerned,” says Ayers.
She recalled that someone vandalized the complex’s mailbox last year, but this new mailbox showed no signs of damage.
“The post office box that we’ve got is only 14 months old. It had been broken into 14 months ago and I think it just needs better security,” says Ayers.
Now, Ayers says she is dealing with significant fraudulent activity in her bank account.
“I saw a fraudulent check in there for $950 to an entity that I did not write it to. And I went to my bank and we figured out that they had mailed my checks, and my checks had come just the day before. They'd broken into them,” says Ayers.
Ayers has filed a report with the Santa Barbara county Sheriff’s office.
“With the high crime that we're experiencing now with the economy and it's very high cost, I think people are getting more desperate and that means crime is going to increase. So we have to figure out ways to be smarter, be more secure,” says Ayers.
Santa Maria police confirm three cases of mail theft from shared mailboxes in the city last month.
In all three cases, thieves accessed the mail without forced entry.
However, police have not confirmed whether Ayers' case in Orcutt is linked to the 3 Santa Maria cases.
The U.S. Postal Service does use skeleton keys for shared mailboxes, but police say none have been reported stolen recently.
Authorities urge residents to increase the frequency with which they check their mail.
