BOSTON – When Chris Staros received a text message about a duplicate credit card he didn’t order last year he jumped into action.
“I said, ‘Well where did the card get mailed to?’ They said, ‘To your home address,’” Staros said.
That credit card never arrived.
“What I didn’t realize was that they had impersonated me and opened up an informed delivery account at the United States Postal Service,” Staros said.
Informed Delivery is a feature offered by the U.S. Postal Service that allows individuals to digitally preview their mail before it arrives.
Staros said in his case it was the criminals previewing his mail. They were also redirecting some of it to another address. He immediately shut down the account.
“It is scary to know that you’re that vulnerable,” Staros said.
He said that because nothing was stolen the police couldn’t do much.
