Mail Fishing a Growing Threat As Thieves Target Mailboxes
Reports of mail fishing, along with check whitewashing, are posing a growing threat to postal customers. Banks now urge customers to bring their mail directly to the post office rather than using their street mailboxes, which thieves are increasingly targeting.
| 12 May 2026 | 02:32
Mailbox on 90th and Broadway which was recently targeted for mail fishing. Thieves use glue to block letters from fully dropping into the box, then whitewash any checks that happen to be snagged by the glue trap. (
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Inside the insert of the mail box where the glue traps are inserted (
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Mail theft is running rampant on the Upper East and Upper West Side, where thieves are using glue traps to steal mail from local mailboxes. These glue traps are being placed on the top of the mail box slots that are preventing letters from falling all the way through. This contraption makes it easy for mail thieves to steal the mail stuck in the entry of the boxes. One resident of the Upper West Side, Joe (name changed for anonymity), said that he had recently gone to his local mail box on 90th and Broadway to deliver his rent check, but was alarmed when the check didn’t fall into the box. He reached back in to grab his letter and found it covered in a sticky substance. “I got my letter and another envelope and took them to the post office where I reported the incident,” said the resident. “The clerk told me that it sounds like a glue trap.”
The post office clerk on 104th and Broadway who received the report had already been familiar with this sort of crime. Mail fishing was reported by Straus News on the Upper East Side when twenty-seven people were indicted for mail theft crimes. In June of 2025, Country Bank released a statement to its customers warning them of the rise of mail scam and phishing. “Recently, mailbox fishing has become a significant issue in the Northeast as individuals involved in this fraud target stand-alone United States Postal Service mailboxes.” At the end of the statement is a suggestion to bring all mail directly to the post office.
This crime is not new to NYC. “’In 2018, about 3,000 incidents of fishing were reported in New York City, up from 2,800 the year before,’ said Jason Savino, the grand larceny division’s commanding officer,” reported the NYT. To fight the ever-growing crime of mail fishing, in 2017, NYC began replacing the original large slot mailboxes with ones that have a narrow slot. This was to allow for letters to be inserted, but prevents fishing tools from retrieving them. Unfortunately, mail thieves only became more creative.
Last month, a warning letter was placed on a mailbox on Ave B and 8th Street that read: “DO NOT MAIL YOUR TAXES HERE! LAST NIGHT AT 2:30 AM I SAW A MAN FISHING OUT MAIL.” A picture of the mailbox was posted on EV Grieve, a website where locals can post about East Village news. One of the comments under the post read: “The mailboxes on 2nd & both 10th St. & St Marks have sticky goo on the mail slots. The box on 3rd Ave last week had goo, and someone had tried to slide in a plastic mailing envelope, and it stuck.”
To help residents feel more secure in their postal systems, the NYPD released a statement on how to protect yourself against mail fishing and check washing. Some of the suggestions include depositing the mail as close to the scheduled pick-up time as possible, and dropping mail containing checks and any other personally identifiable information directly at the Post Office, or hand it directly to a mail carrier.
On Facebook, more residents of the Upper West Side have been complaining about their experiences with mail fishing. One user under the name Stan Harrison posted: “Do NOT use the mailbox on 83rd and 85th and Broadway. The slots are covered in mousetrap glue. Even if you think your mail has dropped into the box it might not have.” He wrote that his check had been washed after it was stolen. “I am through with street mailboxes. You might want to reconsider using them as well.”
Under his post were 26 other comments reporting similar incidents. “I have now had two checks about 4 years apart stolen from one mailbox on 90th st and Broadway and another from Midtown. Same thing as above,” wrote Kore Nissenson Glied. This is the same mailbox Joe used when he noticed the glue traps. “I’m going to be using more direct payment methods and the post office and not use post boxes,” he said.
Straus News reached out to the postal police regarding any investigations or precautions being taken about mail fishing, but has not heard back at this time.