SACRAMENTO, Calif. — North Sacramento neighbors are fed up with mail theft, resulting in them setting up a camera they say caught a man tampering with their cluster mailbox before being chased off.
The video provided to ABC10 shows a man walking up to the mailbox before a car speeds up, blaring a horn and chasing him off.
Viewers say their neighborhood near Clay Creek keeps getting hit by mail thieves, beginning some time last year.
"They're looking for personal identifiers,” said Jeff Fitch, United States Postal Service postal inspector. “They're looking for credit card information, bank information and then sometimes insurance."
He says they’ve seen an uptick in mail theft across the nation, which if convicted could lead up to a sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Fitch says mail theft is a year round problem and reporting cases is what makes a difference.
“Reporting is critical,” he said. “We do have a team of inspectors stationed there in Sacramento that actively work these cases.”
Some tips to protect yourself from possible mail theft include checking your mail regularly, signing up for informed delivery service, reporting any suspicious activity and maybe even installing a home surveillance system.
“The video is something that's very valuable to us for these investigations,” said Fitch.
