HUTTO, Texas — Brian Brown's bank sent him a replacement debit card in the mail.
Two weeks ago, thieves stole Brown's mail and used the card to drain his bank account. He received the fraud alerts a day after the spending spree.
“The first time it happened, I thought it was weird that our mailboxes were open and I just closed them all," Brown said. "It wasn’t until the next day that I started getting the fraud alert.”
Since then, Brown has had his mail stolen twice more from his home along County Road 134 – on Dec. 22 and on Dec. 26. Brown believes the thieves are looking to steal Christmas cards, cash or any gifts they can find.
After the most recent theft, he posted on Facebook saying he found the stolen mail along FM 3349. One of the people responding to the post, Terah Stephens, was afraid her mail had been stolen again as well.
“The first time it’s shocking, the second time it feels more violating," Stephens said. "It’s like ‘really are we doing this again?”
Stephens said both times thieves stole her mail, she was out of town.
“The second time it happened, we were out of town, but my kids were home, so my thought was, 'My kids are home, this is happening literally right outside our door, and could it ever escalate into more?',” Stephens said.
Stephens moved to the area 10 years ago and told KVUE this has never happened to her before. Now, her family has discussed getting a mailbox that locks as a solution.
“Never even thought about it until Thanksgiving when the first one happened," Stephens said. "That’s the first time I ever even thought about that.”
Brown has lived along CR 134 for five years and echoed Stephens sentiments. Now, he's working with his bank to clarify which charges to his account are his and which are fraudulent. He also filed a fraud report with the Williamson County Sheriff's Office and a mail theft report with the U.S. Postmaster General.
Since Brown found so much stolen mail the day after Christmas, he will be returning it to the post office on Monday. In his Facebook post, Brown said he would keep it with him at his work for neighbors to check or pick up if needed.
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