Someone Falsely Used Our Address: WHAT TO DO

 A couple of months ago we received a car title renewal in the mail for a woman we've never

heard of and wondered how her mail came to us. We've lived in our house for 16 years and we have never received mail for this person. There were some odd things about this, since she "happened" to show up at our house the day the mail was delivered and asked for it. Since we were going to send it back the the Dept. of Motor Vehicles anyway, we gave it to her. That was a mistake, and a Lesson for YOU. Here's what happened:

When this mysterious dark haired 30 something woman drove to our house and asked if we received her title renewal, I asked for her name. She gave it to me, and I told her that the DMV has our address and that needs to be corrected immediately. She agreed and took the mail. 

Months later, we received another piece of mail from the Dept of Motor Vehicles again in her name. The very next day, we received something from the Maryland Comptroller (Taxes) in her name. I took them to the post office and wrote "Return to Sender, Not at this Address."

A WARNING FROM THE POST OFFICE - That's when the postal clerk told me that people have been falsely using other people's addresses and may be doing illegal things, so that if they are traced via the Dept of Motor Vehicles, it would be to the false address!  SO, NEVER give someone mail who comes to your door, and  tells you their name to prove the mail belongs to them. It was obvious she used our address ON PURPOSE, to keep authorities away from her. 

WHAT WE LEARNED AFTER - We did an internet search for her first and last name in the surrounding area. We learned that she's a felon. She previously lived in another state, stole a car, committed other theft and assaulted a police officer. She's bad news. 

THE OTHER THING WE DID - We also emailed the State comptroller's office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and explained that this felon was using our address and that needed to be corrected immediately. 

CONTACT THE POST OFFICE - Call your local U.S. Postal Inspection Service office, which you can locate here. You can also call the general number for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 877-876-2455 (press option “4” to report mail fraud), or file a report online. ALSO- Write “not at this address” or “return to sender” on all of it. Your first course of action should be to take everything out of the mailbox that's addressed to that other person and write “return to sender” on it.