(HorizonPost.com) – The US Postal Service has updated its change of address policy to require additional steps to prevent identity thieves from stealing mail by changing the recipient’s address, Fox Business reported.
Between 2020 and 2021, online change of address fraud skyrocketed by 167 percent.
CBS New York reported in September that the US Postal Service had vowed to crack down on fraud by requiring ID to submit a change of address request to deal with the spike in identity theft by fraudsters who submitted change of address requests to obtain other people’s mail.
In 2018, the USPS Office of the Inspector General found that only some post offices were checking IDs.
In an effort to properly verify the identity of customers and prevent fraud, the USPS updated its policy so that those submitting a change of address request must have their identities verified.
In May, the US Postal Service began requiring all retail postal clerks to check customer IDs to process change of address requests.
According to James McKean, the US Postal Service’s senior public relations representative, the three ways to initiate an address change are to visit a local post office, submit a request by mail, or change the address online.
Customers must then have their identity verified either by presenting their ID at a post office or by entering an activation code they receive via email when they submit a change of address request online.
For customers who do not visit a local post office and present proper ID, or if they do not enter the activation code, the change of address will not be activated and mail will continue to go to their previous mailing addresses.
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