RESIDENTS have been left fuming over missing mail after they checked surveillance video and saw a stranger raiding their USPS box.

The mystery led the United States Postal Service to issue a warning over stolen master keys after over 20 homeowners had mail swiped.

At first, there were no obvious signs of tampering—no broken locks or damage to the mailboxes—leading many to believe it was a mistake.

It wasn’t until the USPS carrier raised questions that the mystery unraveled in a Dallas community.

“Our mail lady, yesterday, flagged me down and she said, ‘I got a quick question for you,’” Derek Ackner told local NBC affiliate NBC DFW.

That led Ackner to take a look at his surveillance footage – and he was stunned by what he saw.

“It’s 7:15 pm the night before (when) a car pulled up and cleared out both of our mailboxes. So, about 25, 30 homes,” Ackner said.

In the video, a man is seen driving onto private property on Tuesday evening, parking his car next to two mailbox clusters.

He then collects dozens of envelopes in his arms before unlocking another cluster box.

Three minutes later, he walks back to his car and drives off.

Ackner informed his neighbors and by Wednesday night, a report was submitted to the United States Postal Inspection Service.

“One of our neighbors was rather panicked yesterday thinking that she was expecting the delivery of her own child’s birth certificate,” Ackner said, calling it a “huge issue.”

USPS RESPONDS

The United States Postal Inspection Service is now looking into the situation in Dallas.

“In that instance, we know that our USPS Arrow Key is out there due to some robberies,” Dr Jeffrey Fobbs Jr, a federal agent with the United States Postal Inspection Service, told NBC DFW.

“Unfortunately, our hard-working men and women of the US Postal Service letter carriers have been robbed at gunpoint for that key.”

According to Fobbs, federal agents are thoroughly analyzing every detail of the video, including the car’s license plate.

He said neighbors did the right thing by calling the postal service.

“We will start working up any leads that we have for that car. Do what we need to do as far as investigative techniques to locate the car, locate drivers, locate those involved,” he said.

“And again, our goal is to try to prosecute these folks federally.”

RAMPANT THEFT

In May 2023, the USPIS launched Project Safe Delivery to combat the rise in mail theft and violence against mail workers.

The program is a nationwide effort in partnership with state, local, and municipal police departments.

“While we have experienced mail theft in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we can say overall, even across the country, our amount of complaints are down 27%,” Fobbs said.

“That’s because of the hard work we’ve been doing across the country with our Project Safe Delivery, which targets mail theft, violent crimes and anything we do to make our postal employees safe.”

Statistics show almost 70% of Americans have dealt with lost, missing, or stolen deliveries.

In 2023, porch pirates stole 115 million packages, costing consumers $9 billion, according to Forbes.

In some cases, the mail was stolen before it even made it to porches.

It was swiped from collection boxes or even from carriers.

The US Government Accountability Office reported nearly 600 cases of robbery against postal workers in fiscal 2023, a sevenfold increase from fiscal 2019.

This rise in theft has sparked concerns across neighborhoods and led to new federal efforts to combat the growing problem.