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ALWAYS drop your mail into the post office!

You shouldn’t leave any mail in your mailbox overnight. Your mailbox is a major target for thieves and leaving mail in it overnight is likely to put you at high risk of theft, according to the experts at U.S. security company Allied Universal.

Certain mail with personal and confidential information, like blank checks, bank statements, insurance paper work, and credit applications, is even more risky to leave overnight. “If you get statements with personal information in the mail, take your mail out of the mailbox as soon as you can,” the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns.

You may become a victim of identify theft if you have had your personal information stolen out of your mailbox. To spot identity theft, the FTC advises that you continuously track what bills you owe and when they’re due, review your bills, check your bank account statement, and review your credit reports.

“Unfortunately, check fraud has been with us for probably as long as we’ve had checks, and we’ve definitely seen throughout the pandemic fraudsters of all types are really taking advantage,” Mike Adelman, president and CEO of the Ohio Bankers League, told WBNS-TV. According to Adelman, it’s become even easier for thieves to steal checks out of mailboxes and forge them amid COVID because they can deposit them through ATMs or using mobile phone apps without ever having to come face to face with an actual bank teller.