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Published on 08/14/1995 All articles from this issue

Thieves leaving their stamp on local mail, inspectors report

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Mail thieves have been stealing letters from residential mail boxes in Los Altos and may give money laundering a new spin.

Once the mail is stolen, some thieves use a chemical to wash any checks they have found to remove the ink, said Los Altos Police Detective Susie Galvez. They fill in the blanks with their own amount.

"A $15 check can become a $1,500 check," Galvez said.

With the three incidents of mail theft in Los Altos last week, it is too soon to know if that will happen. But to be safe, Galvez advises putting mail in a postal service box.

"It's an inconvenience, but it sure saves having to clean up your credit record later."

This scam is nothing new, said Frank Ducar, a U.S. postal inspector in San Francisco. Ducar recalled cases going back five years, but said incidences shift from area to area. "We catch a lot of thieves. Then they move out of the area," Ducar said.

In Santa Clara County there have been 26 arrests for mail theft this year, said Russell Lee, a U.S. postal inspector in San Jose.'

In the East Bay, postal inspectors have arrested 39 and in San Francisco several dozen for mail theft so far this fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1, 1994, Ducar said. In the United States, there have been 2,407 arrests for mail theft this year.

Galvez and Ducar offer these mail safety tips:

• Don't put mail in your box after the mail carrier has come, and don't put up the red flag - that's like a signal to thieves;

• Don't mail your letters in the blue collection boxes after the last collection of the day - come back the next day.