MACON, Ga. — Mozell Wright Junior pleaded guilty after using victims' personal information to deposit fake checks in the bank back in March 2017, and it all started with stealing mail from his neighbors.
Kelvin Collins from the Better Business Bureau warns people about sending out payments through their own mailbox. "Many times, people stealing mail is not just a one-time thing. It's kind of to target you to pull together more information," Collins said.
He says mail theft is one of the main ways you could have your identity stolen. "From 2004 to today, it's grown over 500%, and last year, Georgia was the number one state for identity theft cases," Collins said.
Mail theft is how 36-year old Mozell Wright Jr. and at least two others on a bank fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors say he tried to deposit more than $15,000 worth of fake checks using his neighbor's information.
"Don't mail your bills from that curbside mailbox, don't mail your bills from that curbside mailbox -- because you put it in and raise that red flag, it does a lot more than tell the postman that you've got mail ready to go out, it tells scam artists that there's something in there could be a check," Collins said.
Sergeant Eric Salter with the Houston County Sheriff's Office says people steal mail to build identities from bank statements, medical information or anything that gives pieces of an individual's information.
"There is a lot of information that is right there for them to utilize," Collins said.
Collins recommends following these steps to keep your information secure. "Check your credit reports, make sure that you know what's going across your credit reports. Know your billing statements. If you're expecting your credit card bill to come a certain time a month, and you don't receive it contact your credit card company," Collins said.
Sergeant Salter says he gets about 3-4 identity theft cases a day, and the majority of them link back to mail theft.