A new mail tracking service provided by the U.S Postal Service has a loophole that ID thieves can take advantage of.
When you sign up for Informed Delivery, the USPS will e-mail you scanned images of your unopened letters, including credit card statements and utility bills, before they arrive in your mailbox. The service also lets users see the delivery status of a package, provide delivery instructions and set up a redelivery.
Here’s the catch: Anyone can sign up for Informed Delivery, using their own e-mail address and your name and mailing address. That means an identity thief could, say, open a credit card in your name, sign up for Informed Delivery to track when the card hits your mailbox, and steal it before you retrieve your mail. The easiest way to avoid this problem is to beat the bad guys to the punch!