Nearly half of Lane Cove residents live in Apartments. Usually, apartments have letter boxes which are located in clusters at the entrance of the apartments. These letter boxes can be easily accessed by non-residents and are becoming hotspots for undesirables to steal personal information for fraud and identity theft. Mail theft and fraud cost the Australian community $2.2 billion each year.
Mailbox theft is a perennial issue in Lane Cove. It is now becoming standard practice for new apartments to have their mailboxes installed inside secure areas with an individual lock and key for each apartment. However, there are many older style apartments where the mailboxes are flimsy and it is easy to access with a skeleton key or the slot is big enough to allow a hand to fit through it.
In the Cove was contacted by a resident of one set of apartments advising that their mailboxes had been raided four times within a very short period. As a result of this, cameras were installed. They managed to capture a picture of the alleged mail thief. You will see that he is wearing a hi-viz vest making him look very official (which means that residents may not think he is suspicious). A picture of this thief was posted near the mailboxes and they have not had any problems since then.
Last year a mail safe campaign was launched. Here are some tips on how to avoid mail theft.
If your mailboxes have been rifled through speak to your Body Corporate to ensure they have used strong locks on the letterbox. It would be a good idea to get a security firm, like Alert, to check out how secure the letterboxes are. Another option is to arrange a mailbox from the Post Office or MBE Lane Cove (the benefit of Mbe lane cove is that you can collect your own parcels 24/7 and great if you run a business from home.)
ITC regularly receives reports of mail theft and most reports are from apartments located on Burns Bay Road and Longueville Road. Always question anyone who is hanging around your mailbox. Be Alert!!
Do you have a local issue you would like help with? ITC is here to help just email us at [email protected]
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