Yarmouth, Maine PD Warns of Checks Being Stolen Out of Local Mailbox
Easy Target
Sometimes the easiest crimes involve things we don't even give a second thought to. For example, dropping a letter into the mailbox. It could be a Christmas card, paying a bill, or sending a post card. It's such a mindless task, in fact, that sometimes I wonder if I did it. Kind of like wondering halfway through conditioning if I shampooed beforehand.
It's hard to imagine but sometimes those big blue mailboxes can get full. And that leaves your mail at risk.
Criminals know there is a good chance they could profit off of this postal exposure. A letter going to a bank? Maybe that has a mortgage payment in it? A pretty envelope for a card? Could be birthday money. This mail becomes low hanging fruit.
One particular mailbox in Yarmouth has been a repeated target.
Forest Falls Drive, Yarmouth
Yarmouth Police Department reported on Facebook that the mailbox was located in front of the post office on Forest Falls Drive. There were two reported incidents where mail was stolen from what was presumed to be this box.
For one victim, a check for a bill was stolen, washed, and rewritten for a much higher amount of money.
Yarmouth PD Believes this is due to overfilling of the mailbox and the Postmaster said while they wait for an antifishing mailbox they will be emptying it more frequently to hopefully prevent this kind of theft from happening again but this can be difficult on weekends.
So, if your local mailbox is full, pop into your local post office or find another one nearby. Oftentimes there's one right outside your local Hannaford or Shaw's. The extra drive is worth not getting your mail stolen!