Criminals stealing postal keys to open mailboxes in Tri-State area

Criminals steal postal keys designed to access your mailboxes in order to steal personal data, NYPD informs.

These keys get to them through robberies of postmen or acquisition on the dark Internet.

The investigation revealed a surge in crimes against postal workers, as well as an increase in the number of lost or stolen keys registered in the states of New York and New Jersey.

Some of these brazen acts were captured on surveillance cameras, from assaulting a postman in Millburn, New Jersey, to using a key to open a shared mailbox in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

"The postal service is under attack," said Frank Albergo, a postal police officer and national president of the postal police union. "The job of a postman has become extremely dangerous," he added.

Criminals are hunting for so–called "arrow keys" - universal keys that can open any mailbox within a certain zip code.

"This is equivalent to the key to the city," said Albergo. "For a criminal, this is a real treasure trove, because access to mail opens up a lot of opportunities."

The U.S. Postal Service has seen a "significant increase" in mail theft cases.

Last year, 282 lost or stolen postal keys were registered in New York, which is almost double the figure of the previous year (155). And this figure is likely to be exceeded in 2025. There were 191 cases in New Jersey in 2023 and 2024, and 143 in the small state of Connecticut over the same period.

Some of these keys are being offered for sale on the darknet. The journalists found about half a dozen postal keys offered for sale in the New York area.

The current price for an arrow key in this region ranges from $1,000 to $2,500.


Photo by  Ekaterina Belinskaya, Pexels
 

In a statement, the United States Postal Inspection Service's New York Division said in part:

"The Postmaster General and the Chief Postal Inspector have taken significant action to counter mail crimes-including the launch of Project Safe Delivery in May 2023. The program's proactive approach has led to a significant decrease in robbery and mail theft incidents. The program's robust measures have led to hundreds of arrests for Postal robberies and thousands of arrests for mail theft. For instance, the number of robberies has decreased 27% Fy 2023 to Fy 2024."

As part of the Safe Delivery project, it is planned to replace about 50,000 outdated keys with electronic locks.