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There are a lot of things you may need to postpone your list before moving, including updating your address so that you Can receive mail in your new house. Fortunately, the American postal service (USPS) allows customers to submit a change of address request (COA) so that their mail can be reached from their old residence to their new. But it seems that some crooks also benefit from this service, which means that your messaging service can be moved by someone other than you while you always live in the same place.

In fact, a new survey has proven how scammers seeking to steal your identity can change your address, even after the postal service tried to repress fraudulent requests. Read the rest to learn more about the dangers of this USPS scam.

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Recently, there was an increase in suspicious actors who tried to change the addresses of people without their permission. A April 2022 report From the USPS Bureau of the Inspector General (OIG) discovered that fraud surrounding the process of addressing the change of the agency (COA) had increased significantly. According to the report. This is a leap of 167% compared to 2020, during which only 8,857 cases were reported.

Laurette Olson , a Scarsdale resident, New York, told CBS New York In May, she became suspect that she had been struck by the scam when she stopped receiving an expected letter and began to obtain opinions on her phone that she had invoices that were due. When she contacted the USPS, she discovered that someone had changed their address in a file in California.

"Complete and total shock," Olson told the media of his reaction. "I know three invoices, but I don't know what else was sent there. And I don't know what they have in terms of personal information."

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With increasing mail fraud reports, postal service announced in May that it would join the force to the U.S.Post Inspection Service (USPSIS) to extend crime prevention measures in order to suppress false changes of address. "The majority of the COA's frauds are motivated by a reason for identity theft distinct from the postal service," the agency said in a press release in May, noting that more than 33 CO transactions had been processed in 2022 only. "Postal service is not the planned objective, but involved because the fraudster intercepts financially oriented mail, credit cards or checks."

To prevent CO scams, the USPS said it was working on "strengthening of authentication processes" for all CO requests. At the time, the agency said that it had implemented the identity verification services for double authentication for online co -on -line transactions in April and would begin to offer coa transactions in "improved" person in post offices And the points of sale on May 31.

"CO customers can verify their identity by presenting a form of identification approved to a retail employee," said the agency. "As an additional backup, the postal service will no longer accept the third party change in address bids."

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More than four months after the announcement of extended crime prevents, some postal customers are now wondering if the changes have been adopted. In a September 27 report, CBS New York said His own investigation revealed that crooks can still easily change someone's address with the USPS. Investigative journalist Tim McNicholas I went to three different post office offices from Manhattan to send his mail to the address of his girlfriend in Washington, D.C. and was not asked once his identity card. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

A clerk even told McNicholas that he could simply drop a coa form by post, which he decided in August. A few days later, his mail began to appear at D.C. despite that he has never checked his identity to verify his identity, according to CBS New York.

"They told us that they took all these steps to really really solve this problem, this fraudulent problem of change of address they have, but it is clear that the message does not come out through the organization," said declared the representative of New Jersey. Josh Gottheimer said to the media.

McNicholas said that he had submitted a total of five CO requests throughout the summer, including that by mail in August. In a statement to CBS New York, the USPS said that "due to recent improvements", the agency in fact stopped all the journalist's requests except one and sent it notifications on attempts that did not been approved.

In its press release in May, the postal service noted that "customers looking for a COA will now receive a validation letter at their old address and will receive an activation letter at their new address" as part of changes in the crime reprimand.

But McNicholas maintains that he did not Get a notification for each attempt - although it has received notifications on some, including a letter in July saying that an additional verification was necessary to approve the request. The letter also indicated: "If you have not submitted this request, no other action is required", according to the media. Nevertheless, one of the requests for change of address was finally made without McNicholas no longer subjecting identity verification.

"Several people told me that it had happened to them, received no letter. They never received a follow -up," New York in Gottheimer told CBS.

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