Identity Theft The Old Fashioned Way

Yesterday in Hampton Terrace, . Postmaster Michael Figlia says that these were for 27 addresses within the neighborhood. Hundreds more homes had their mail delayed as the truck and its contents became part of a police investigation.

Residents whose mail was delayed should have received it today, according to Figlia. He says the USPS will be mailing out letters this week to the 27 homes providing help and guidance.

Today, your identity can be stolen from countless websites and phone apps if their security measures aren't up to par and regularly maintained. Email remains one of the most popular methods amongst thieves, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). However, these two thieves appear to have taken it "old school" and gone after paper.

Figlia speculated that they were after checks and new credit cards. Most financial institutions, he said, are only printing partial account numbers these days to limit the usefulness of stealing these documents. 

According to the FTC's annual Consumer Sentinal Network report, Florida ranked number one in identity theft complaints for 2009 and 2010, and came in at number two for 2011 (this year's report is not yet available.) 

For more information on identity theft and what you can do to protect yourself, check out the MyFlorida identity theft website and the FTC's website on Deter Detect Defend.