Forum Photo by Michael V. Cusenza
The new high-security collection boxes, such as this one on the corner of Cross Bay Boulevard and 161st Avenue, have been touted as virtually tamper-proof.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Canny crooks recently pilfered two personal checks from a new, high-security mailbox located a few steps from the front door to the Howard Beach Post Office, the victim told The Forum this week.
An Ozone Park woman reached out to the newspaper after receiving a phone call from a TD Bank Fraud representative inquiring about the two checks. The woman, who asked The Forum not to publish her name, said the bank staffer indicated that the two checks, which the victim said were originally made out to the amounts of $50 and $3,000, had been manipulated to the tune of $5,000 and $9,800, respectively.
“I was a wreck,” the victim said on Tuesday. “There’s information in my mail that you don’t always think about. Anybody can have my information now.”
According to the woman, she placed eight parcels into one of the boxes outside of the Howard Beach Post Office on Cross Bay Boulevard and 161st Avenue on Sunday, Dec. 30.
“Three just never made it [to their destinations]; three arrived [at their targets]; and two were stolen,” she reported.
Records indicated that the two poached personal checks were cashed on Jan. 3 at TD Bank branches in Manhattan. The name, date, and amount were manipulated by the thieves.
The exasperated victim told The Forum that, well aware of mail fishing concerns in Queens, she employed a gel pen to write on the checks (gel pens purportedly make manipulating information difficult); used a mailbox near a post office, and even mailed her parcels on Sunday night—as law enforcement has encouraged residents to do.
“I feel like how much more can you do?” she said. “I just don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Mailbox fishing” is a federal crime in which envelopes containing checks and sensitive documents are “fished” out of curbside mailboxes by crooks using a makeshift rod: an adhesive slathered all over a weighted, 16 ounce-20 ounce bottle attached to the end of a string or rope.
However, the U.S. Postal Service has been replacing the old model mailboxes with the new high-security collection boxes which feature a slit affixed at the top—making them virtually fishing-proof.
U.S. Postal Inspection Service Public Information Officer Donna Harris told The Forum on Wednesday that the agency will investigate the customer’s case.
“We don’t know what happened. Those boxes are sturdy—but nothing is 100 percent [tamper-proof],” Harris said. “We take mail theft very seriously. We just won’t know without investigating.”
Meanwhile, the Ozone Park woman’s accounts have been reimbursed. However, she acknowledged that the theft and fraud have taken their toll.
“I’m a little bit anxious, angry naturally, and confused,” she said, noting that she has sworn off all mailboxes and will only send items via the post office. “I don’t know what to do. If I can’t trust the Postal Service—what can I do?”
Harris urged all customers that have criminal concerns regarding their mail to contact the USPIS at publicaffairsnewyork@uspis.gov.
