USPS rips open my W-2; future ID theft

I received my W-2 in the mail yesterday. I'm pretty pissed off. Someone at the postal service ripped it open on both sides, enough to see my wages on one side and my SS# on the other, and a small red stamp that says " Received in Damaged Condition". There's no doubt in my mind that it didn't get caught up in some machine. It was opened and made to look like it was damaged. In my 40+ yrs of life, I've only recieved 1 piece of damaged mail and it was because it was dropped in the snow and stepped on, so the address was almost illegible.

A W-2 form with all information on a person and clearly identified as such is a goldmine for people who steal id's.

Anyone else have this happen to them? I know I'm 99.9 percent sure I'm screwed.

Hurry and sign up for LifeLock. It's $9.00 a month and you are insured for a million dollars should your identity be stolen. I became a member a year ago after my trash disappeared a few times and have had no issues and been very happy with their services.

Dude, have you ever been in a post office? Not just the neighborhood one, where someone is tossing your mail into the box, or sorting it for the carriers. I mean the big bulk mail or processing centers.

You know how many machines your letters go thru?

Mail will be shredded beyond belief, and the Post Office will try to piece it together and either get it to the person it was addressed for, or return it to the sender.

Could someone have tried to get your SSN? Maybe. I'm still betting it was almost eaten by a sorting machine.

Of all the mail, what are the odds that my W-2 is ripped open? Come on. You think the USPS employees are innocent? I blame them for all the gamefly games that turned up missing in the mail too. I cancelled my subscription to that before I got charged for the missing games.

Originally posted by Clark W. Griswold
Of all the mail, what are the odds that my W-2 is ripped open? Come on. You think the USPS employees are innocent? I blame them for all the gamefly games that turned up missing in the mail too. I cancelled my subscription to that before I got charged for the missing games.

Well, they could be pretty good odds, Sparky, since there are a lot of W2s being sent out.

Gamefly games? Not familiar with them. I do know that some guys have been busted at the P&DC here for swiping DVDs from the mail.

What you need to do is go to your main post office and show the post master the envelope. I would also check with your neighbors and see if they too received their W-2 in this condition. If they have, or if the post master has received other complaints about this, than yep, there is an ID theft ring occuring.

Good Luck


Cheers!!!!

[edit on 17-1-2009 by RFBurns]

Originally posted by Clark W. Griswold
I received my W-2 in the mail yesterday. I'm pretty pissed off. Someone at the postal service ripped it open on both sides, enough to see my wages on one side and my SS# on the other, and a small red stamp that says " Received in Damaged Condition". There's no doubt in my mind that it didn't get caught up in some machine. It was opened and made to look like it was damaged. In my 40+ yrs of life, I've only recieved 1 piece of damaged mail and it was because it was dropped in the snow and stepped on, so the address was almost illegible.

A W-2 form with all information on a person and clearly identified as such is a goldmine for people who steal id's.

Anyone else have this happen to them? I know I'm 99.9 percent sure I'm screwed.

You really need to put an immediate "fraud alert" or "active duty alert" with at least the three major credit agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. I would definitely put Chex systems on alert as well.

You should read section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act to see the details of what your legal options are:
www.ftc.gov...

Even if you are screwed, I'm 100% sure it is possible to completely clear up, though it may cost a lot of money to do so. I'm considering becoming a consumer's rights lawyer so I can help people with that kind of thing so it wouldn't cost them a fortune to fix.

[edit on 17-1-2009 by truthquest]

If it happened like you suspect, it was not in any of the sorting facilities. A buddy of mine worked at the one in Cheyenne for a short while. They have cameras everywhere just for that reason... too many thefts... credit cards, holiday money, paychecks, etc. They keep really strict tabs on the happenings of the inside of the buildings and loading docks.

If you are a victim of identity theft, you can probably chalk it up to about 3 or 4 people that could've done it... the postman who picked up the letter, the postman who dropped it off, transportation driver (least likely), and maybe someone else who would've had a couple moments away from a prying eye.

Sorry to hear, and hope you have good luck with it!

reply to post by Clark W. Griswold


You are making a false accusation and you know it or you would have talked to your letter carrier. That red stamp stating that the envelope was recieved damaged was placed there by a supervisor after the carrier or mail handler found it. Working in the Post Office in any position is one of the most hectic jobs in the world. It is non-stop fast, they are timed in each thing they do, down to thousandth's of a minute. It is a yearly ritual called "mail count". The P.O. has their own police, they are called postal inspectors and they can and do arrest any and all miscreants that tamper with the mail. If that torn envelope is your only complaint, you should appreciate your carrier and their craftsmanship.

Im sure that the post office has bad apples as well as every other profession, Its not to far fetched for a con man with a clean record to get a job like that just to steal information, Oh and life lock is 10 dollars a month not 9.

I had about 1/4 of my Christmas cards opened.

I live far out in the country ,get my mail out the box as quickly as it arrives, so I blame the post office employees searching for cash,gift cards,or even checks.

reply to post by debris765nju


Making a false accusation? Someone or something tampered with my mail. Even if it was a machine that did the damage, what's to say that a postal worker didn't rip it more and get my ss# and whatever else they wanted?




I live in a rural area. I know my mailman. I'm not saying it was him. I haven't contacted anyone yet because as I said, it was in a pile of yesterday's mail and I just opened the pile today.



[edit on 17-1-2009 by Clark W. Griswold]

Originally posted by Clark W. Griswold
reply to post by debris765nju

 

Making a false accusation? Someone or something tampered with my mail. Even if it was a machine that did the damage, what's to say that a postal worker didn't rip it more and get my ss# and whatever else they wanted?

I live in a rural area. I know my mailman. I'm not saying it was him. I haven't contacted anyone yet because as I said, it was in a pile of yesterday's mail and I just opened the pile today.
[edit on 17-1-2009 by Clark W. Griswold]

Have you put a fraud alert with the four agencies I mentioned? You really should and it ridiculous that you getting called hoaxer/troll just for pre-opened mail! I literally laughed at that one a little bit.

reply to post by Clark W. Griswold

Wow, that sucks...
In all my years I have never gotten a shredded letter or damaged item.
I'm sure it does happen. You have every right to be suspicious, after all
identity theft is a big problem. I would highly suggest filing an official
complaint to your post master as well as to a higher office.

I would hope if mail is damaged it would be logged internally in a notebook
or computer with employees identity. This way they know who to question.
Whoever stamped it " Received in Damaged Condition" should have to then
log it to keep record.

Suggesting this to the USPS on all levels can maybe prevent this from
happening again.

reply to post by Clark W. Griswold


Clark,

You are not alone. I received half of my w2 last Monday in a USPS plastic envelope which says “The enclosed has been damaged in handling by the Postal Service”. The half I received is in a good condition - clean and flat. There is no sign of being mechanically rescued. The missing half contains vital information, such as name, address, ssn and earnings. To add insult to injury, when I called 1-800-275-8777 (USPS customer service), a woman named Elieen said “I have to interrupt you. There is nothing we can do. We have no way to find out what happened where and when.” I just feel vulnerable and powerless …

Nick

reply to post by Clark W. Griswold


I live in Northern Virginia and received half of my W-2 today from the USPS. Might I add that it was neatly torn right down the middle.

reply to post by Clark W. Griswold

I just got mine and it was neatly opened on the side...no notification from the post office of it being damaged from any machines and I have a locking mailbox. I also received a credit card statement opened all the way across at the top, again with not little message from the post office saying that it was received damaged. Nobody could have opened it but someone from the post office. I'm getting fraud alerts immediately and i'm calling the post office as soon as my alarm goes off. It's upsetting.

Although I can't pinpoint the agency responsible (my employer or USPS), my 4-part W2 arrived neatly separated in half last week. It was done prior to delivery in my mailbox (i.e, someone didn't open my mailbox to steal it). I've worked for the postal service and while I know that some mail does get damaged by the machinery, it's rare and, indeed, this is the first letter I've received in more than two years that has been damaged. The chance of that happening by random machine damage is very slim. There was no USPS bag or stamp that it was damaged in transit. I intend to ask my mailwoman about it. We called the USPS Customer Service and she assigned a case # to it. Said she had never heard of such a thing (!!).

I put a fraud alert on my credit report. It's easy to do--go to annualcreditreport.com and go to one of the providers and look for the link to their Credit Fraud Center (name might differ a little, depending on your Credit Report company) under "Credit Report Tools" (or equivalent). Unfortunately, it's only good for 90 days, so you have to renew it or get documentation of identity theft for a multi-year alert.