Spring Branch – A small business in the Spring Branch area is struggling after months of not receiving checks from its customers, but not because the money hasn’t been mailed to them.
Surveillance video captured around 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 7 by the business shows it’s because someone, not a postal carrier, has found a way to open their mailbox.
“All the mail was empty,” small business owner Carly Craig said.
The problems first started months ago, when Craig’s accounting department had to follow up with customers for payment.
“These customers would go back and check their bank records and the checks were being endorsed to individuals, instead of our business,” she said.
The business, which doesn’t want to be identified, had its individual mailbox lock changed and started putting checks in a lock box once they were inside the office.
“We kind of covered our bases to make sure it was nothing happening in our office,” Craig said.
But that didn’t stop the problem.
Surveillance video from Dec. 7 caught the bandit in the act. He walks up to the panel of mailboxes without hesitation, appears to put a key inside, and is able to open every box at once, checking for mail inside.
The business reported it to their postal carrier as well as the U.S. Postal Inspector, which confirmed the report to KPRC 2.
“Every day, the US Postal Service safely delivers mail to more than 150 million addresses; mail that includes checks, money orders, credit cards, and merchandise. While the U.S. Mail remains one of the most secure means to transmit such items, unfortunately, these items are also attractive to thieves,” a spokesperson for the USPIS wrote in an email to KPRC 2.
The USPIS recommends postal customers retrieve mail from their box as soon as possible, because the longer it sits, the more susceptible it is to theft.
Craig and her team posted a picture of the mail bandit on the box.
“Hopefully with this guy’s picture, someone will recognize him,” Craig said. “It’s just not fair to steal from small businesses. We work hard, our customers work hard.”
If you believe you’re a victim of mail theft, report it to local police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 877-876-2455 or at this website.
Mail theft is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and fines.