CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The holidays are just days away, which means many people are sending gifts and greeting cards in the mail. But there’s been a noticeable uptick in mail theft in the Charlotte area, and some victims are speaking out to warn others.
For months now some of the business owners in a shared office building on Sharon Amity Road have noticed missing checks. They finally caught the thieves in action on their security cameras, but have concerns it’s much bigger than just this one mailbox.
Looking over their shoulders as they do it, security footage shows two people stuffing a trash bag full of other people’s mail. The thieves did it quickly and easily. The victims say that’s because they had the help of a stolen master key.
“My understanding is that arrow key can open almost anything within this zip code,” Heidi Risser told WCNC Charlotte.
Risser’s law office is inside of the building, and she’s had issues with stolen mail in the last month or so. She’s concerned even more people in the area could be victims of mail theft and said the U.S. Postal Service isn’t doing enough to fix the problem.
“Even if we moved it inside, they still have the key,” she said. “They could drop by and rob us again. My understanding from others is that the postal service has absolutely no intention of changing that key.”
The U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office was not available for an interview and did not share specifics on the prevalence of mail theft.
But this does not appear to be an isolated incident in the area.
“Within the last maybe month or month and a half I think we had a little over a dozen cases just in Matthews, so that was obviously a big concern,” Officer Tim Aycock with the Matthews Police Department said.
There are simple ways to protect the mail you’re sending and receiving. Anyone expecting a check in the mail should try to ensure it has to be signed for at delivery or ask a family member or trusted neighbor to get it as soon as it arrives.
“Criminals are very aware that a lot more money is changing hands for gifts this time of year so they’re banking on finding gift cards,” Aycock said. “Unfortunately, you’ll find times where people put cash in the mail still and it’s just not a good thing to do. You have to be smarter about it these days. The other option is to take the mail to the post office yourself.”
Aycock said security cameras can sometimes deter criminals. If not, they help give police a clear image of the suspects to better investigate and make an arrest.
Contact Chloe Leshner at cleshner@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.