Submitted via IRC for Bytram
U.S. Secret Service Warns ID Thieves are Abusing USPS's Mail Scanning Service — Krebs on Security
A year ago, KrebsOnSecurity warned that “Informed Delivery,” a new offering from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) that lets residents view scanned images of all incoming mail, was likely to be abused by identity thieves and other fraudsters unless the USPS beefed up security around the program and made it easier for people to opt out. This week, the U.S. Secret Service issued an internal alert warning that many of its field offices have reported crooks are indeed using Informed Delivery to commit various identity theft and credit card fraud schemes.
The internal alert — sent by the Secret Service on Nov. 6 to its law enforcement partners nationwide — references a recent case in Michigan in which seven people were arrested for allegedly stealing credit cards from resident mailboxes after signing up as those victims at the USPS’s Web site.
According to the Secret Service alert, the accused used the Informed Delivery feature “to identify and intercept mail, and to further their identity theft fraud schemes.”
“Fraudsters were also observed on criminal forums discussing using the Informed Delivery service to surveil potential identity theft victims,” the Secret Service memo reads.
The USPS did not respond to repeated requests for comment over the past six days.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 11 2018, @01:59PM
I agree that "in person" would be best, but you're right that it isn't practical. Requiring confirmation by mail is better but it's still subject to mail thieves (the same ones who signed up for the service in your name).
Sending a confirmation postcard with an ID to everyone who signed up online (or an "invite" to everybody in general) is a bad idea because it would be subject to ... wait for it ... mail box thieves.
I think this service would be great for my PO Box so I'm not heading down to the post office just to see if something showed up.