New York Business Steals Omaha Address
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Updated: 10:51 PM Jan 11, 2009
New York Business Steals Omaha Address
Woman getting piles of mail
Identity theft is a common concern, but what if your address was stolen? An Omaha woman is getting unwanted business mail addressed to her home.
Posted: 8:25 PM Jan 11, 2009
Reporter: Mike McKnight
Email Address: sixonline@wowt.com
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Identity theft is a common concern, but what if your address was stolen? An Omaha woman is getting unwanted business mail addressed to her home.

"Sometimes I get more mail for the locksmith than I do myself," says Lois, who doesn't want her last name used. Piles of junk mail for 24-Hour A Locksmith come to her address.

"Why would a reputable company hijack someone's address and use it as their business address unless there was some reason to conceal it?"

24-Hour A Locksmith has a local phone number, but a call goes to a dispatch center on the east coast. "They put the addresses in there so you know that they're nearby and in your area, but there's no store fronts at all there,” says a dispatcher.

"I'm trying to find out why that address is being used?" asked Channel 6 News’ Mike McKnight. After a Six On Your Side call to 24-Hour A Locksmith for assistance, a local locksmith was dispatched.

"I don't know if it's legal or illegal, I don't know anything about that," he said. "I have nothing to do with that.”

Would he call them and ask why are they doing this? “I don't think it's any of my business, that's their problem."

Postal inspector Dave Margritz found 24-Hour A Locksmith on three Internet Yellow Page Web sites. All show the address for the company which we won't reveal because it's Lois' house.

"We're going to contact those three Web sites that I found and demand they take that listing off there because that company is not authorized to use her address," says Margritz.

Lois worries that one day a disgruntled customer will show up on her doorstep when she's home alone. "I'm not in the phone book, I have an unlisted number. I just have no idea how this locksmith got my address and felt they could use it."

The hijacking of her address by an out-of-state dispatch company for local locksmiths has Lois worried about opening her mail and her door.

The locksmith who responded to our call to the dispatch center says he's an independent contractor working for Dependable Locksmith out of The Bronx, New York.

Channel 6 News left numerous messages with dispatchers asking a manager to call Six On Your Side. No one ever did.


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