LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Fraudsters are looking to steal your identity and are doing so by intercepting your mail.
A neighborhood in the northwest valley was recently targeted in what’s being called mail interception fraud.
Vanesa Bui lives in the Iron Mountain community, where identity thieves tried to steal her personal information. It started with a package alert for a replacement credit card. But she never ordered one.
Bui says identity thieves took out replacement credit cards in her name and had them delivered to her address. They tried to intercept the mail by stopping the UPS driver.
This isn’t the first time it has happened.
“I talked to the UPS driver the first time and they said it was a person with an ID and they stopped me down the street,” Bui said. “And I’m like, OK, we will never stop you down the street.”
“So that’s how I knew this was happening,” she said. “And at the same time, I think you just have to be very diligent about making sure because something as innocent as, ‘Hey, can I get a replacement card’ doesn’t flag as fraud. And even if you call any customer rep, they would say, ‘But it’s coming to your address.’ “
The second time thieves tried to intercept, Bui came prepared.
She already put in a claim with the credit card company, changing her mail preferences to make sure the mail was delivered to her door only.
In Bui’s door cam video you can see the thieves approach the UPS driver.
“When I spoke to the driver, I thanked him for coming to the house, saying I’ll contact UPS and tell them you did the right thing,” Bui said.
“This is definitely a scheme, starting from credit cards happening and if you’re the cardholder, you may not even know that it has happened,” she said.
Bui hopes turning over her door cam video to police will help catch the thieves. She has also reached out to UPS about the incident and thanked them for not handing over her mail.
