Break-ins at a number of apartment and community mailboxes occurred Thursday and Friday night, say police.
Red Deer RCMP said reports of attempted break-ins at apartment mailboxes on Stanton Street and Stanhope Crescent came in Thursday. Attempts were made to pry open the mailboxes and it was unknown if any mail was stolen.
On Friday night mail was stolen from community boxes on Inglis Crescent, Jordan Parkway and Jepsen Crescent.
Witnesses to the Inglis Crescent break-in described one of the suspects as a Caucasian man, 1.8 metres tall (six feet), with short hair wearing an Edmonton Oilers hat and a red and white plaid shirt. He drove a newer model white Dodge Ram 1500 and was accompanied by another man.
Thieves who steal mail are targeting pre-paid credit cards, gift cards, cheques and documents that will make it easy for them to access banking and other personal information. At this time of year, they are especially going after pre-paid credit cards used by tax companies to deliver tax refunds to their clients.
Call 911 immediately if suspicious activity is in progress at a mailbox.
RCMP also urge people to take steps every day to protect themselves from identity theft by:
- Contacting their bank or credit card company immediately if they think their mail may have contained replacement credit or bank cards, or credit or bank statements that could be used to attempt fraud on their accounts.
- Contact the business that handled the tax return immediately if expecting a tax return via a pre-paid card.
- Contact the issuing agency immediately if expecting personal identification such as a renewed driver’s license or other government-issued identification.
- Contact utility companies to ensure payments are not accidentally missed. Stolen bills can also be used to steal identities, open new accounts or get cash loans.
- RCMP urge people to check their mail every day to lessen the risk of losing important pieces of mail.
If anyone has information about these investigations they are asked to contact Red Deer RCMP at 403-343-5575. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or report it online at www.tipsubmit.com. If information leads to an arrest there could be a cash reward up to $2,000.
People can learn more about protecting themselves from fraud by visiting the identity theft section of the RCMP website at http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/scams-fraudes/id-theft-vol-eng.htm and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/protectyourself-protegezvous/index-eng.htm.