South Florida

Miramar Woman Has Mail Stolen Days After Signing Up for USPS Service

A Miramar woman says a thief was caught on camera stealing her mail just days after she signed up for a new U.S. Postal Service program that helps residents track the letters and other items they'll be receiving.

Dorothy Smith said a black car pulled up to her mailbox Thursday and grabbed everything inside. She said the car spent about a minute there before it backed up and drove off.

"Well, we feel violated," Smith told NBC 6. "It looked like all the emblems were missing, like the windows were heavily tinted. It looks like they went out of their way so their vehicle couldn't be identified."

Smith knew exactly three pieces of mail were taken thanks to a new program by the postal service called Informed Delivery Daily Digest. She signed up for it three days before the crime.

"They will send you a picture of all the mail that's being delivered to your home that day," Smith said. "If it wasn't for the new mail system we wouldn't have known that we even had mail."

Smith said her mail has disappeared or been stolen before, so that's why she set up cameras to try and catch the postal thief.

And she's not alone. There were just shy of 500 mail theft complaints in South Florida in 2016, with upwards of 60,000 nationwide.

"I've had checks stolen or missing, and we have private info we don't want to go out to the general public, so it concerns us quite a bit," Smith said.

Smith said thankfully this time the thieves only got away with junk mail.

The Informed Delivery Daily Digest service is free and you can sign up for it by going to USPS.com.

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