TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - It can really wreck your life if someone steals your mail and uses the info they find to steal your identity.
Now the Postal Service has a new way to know your mail's been snatched so you can take action.
Thieves want your mail. Even if thieves don't get something valuable right away like checks or money, they get enough valuable information about you that they can start stealing your identity and running up credit cards in your name.
Kelly Shafer is careful with mail. He knows it's good advice get mail out of your box as soon as you can so thieves have less chance to steal it. But he still worries.
"I can go weeks without getting any mail so it's really concerning, especially in this neighborhood right here."
When someone steals from an individual mailbox it may not show any damage. So how can you know when mail is missing?
The Postal Service just made something available here that may help.
It's called Informed Delivery.
Automated mail sorting takes pictures of standard envelopes anyway. Sign up for Informed Delivery on the USPS website and you can get those pictures in your e-mail, or a phone app.
If you know the mail's in the system, and you do not get it, you know there's trouble
Kelly Shafer says, "I think that is a great idea and I'd definitely check into that."
And you can ask Postal Inspectors or police to check into it if you suspect mail theft.
