Tips for preventing mail theft during the holiday season

The Alberta Crime Prevention theme for December is mail theft and the Bonnyville RCMP would like to remind community members to protect themselves from mail theft as we move into the holiday season even though its not a common crime in the Lakeland..

Some tips to keep your mail safe include:

• Checking mail regularly, as soon as possible after delivery
• If you are going out of town, have someone you trust collect your mail, or contact Canada Post to hold your mail until you return
• If there is a damaged or tampered with mailbox, contact Canada Post to report it
• Do not send cash in the mail
• Track your shipments
• Plan to be home when packages are supposed to arrive, or arrange an alternate delivery and pickup location
• Consider installing video surveillance

Sgt. Sarah Parke is the Detachment Commander for the Bonnyville RCMP.

“The Bonnyville RCMP average about one mail fraud file per month,” Sgt. Parke told Lakeland Connect.

The most important is to pick up your mail as soon as possible after it has been delivered says Canada Post.

“Mail theft like any theft of personal property can lead to financial loss and considerable inconvenience,” said Ted Upshaw, General Manager of Security and Investigations at Canada Post. “We want to ensure our customers can take advantage of a few services that can help them and avoid this unnecessary grief.”

Other tips include:

• Deposit mail close to the scheduled pickup time posted on the mailbox.
• Items containing sensitive/financial or business information as well as large quantities of mail should be deposited at a local post office.
• It is essential that sensitive financial documents be shredded prior to disposal.
• If you receive mail that’s not yours, please don’t leave it in an unprotected area. If the mail has been delivered incorrectly, please write, “delivered to wrong address” on the front of the envelope. If addressed to someone not living at your address, write “not at this address.” In either case, deposit the mail into a street letter box or the outgoing mail slot of a Community Mailbox at the earliest convenience.

Hold mail service for travellers

Canada Post’s Hold Mail service can help those who are planning to travel during the holidays. Mail will be held for a minimum of 2 weeks for $20 and $8 for each additional week. The service is accessible at local post offices or on the Canada Post website at www.canadapost.ca .

Any suspicious activity should be reported immediately to the police at 911. If a mailbox is overturned or vandalized, please contact Canada Post at 1-800-267-1177.