Yes, someone else can get USPS Informed Delivery for your address. The Postal Service tries to prevent it with identity verification, but a previous resident, a household member, or anyone with enough of your personal information can pass those checks and start receiving grayscale previews of every letter-sized piece of mail arriving at your home.1United States Postal Service (USPS). Informed Delivery – The Basics
What They Would See
Informed Delivery is a free USPS service that emails digital previews of incoming letter-sized mail and package tracking updates.2United States Postal Service (USPS). Informed Delivery – Mail and Package Notifications As mail moves through USPS sorting machines, the equipment photographs the front of each envelope, and those images appear in the dashboard tied to that address.
The images show all letter-sized mail arriving at the address, not just mail addressed to the account holder by name. Someone enrolled for your address could see previews of your bank statements, medical correspondence, and tax documents. Contents stay hidden inside the envelope, but return addresses and recipient names are visible. For anyone attempting identity theft or financial fraud, that is enough to work with.
How USPS Tries to Stop It
Enrollment starts on the USPS website. The applicant enters a residential or P.O. Box address, then creates a USPS.com account.1United States Postal Service (USPS). Informed Delivery – The Basics The gatekeeping happens at identity verification, where USPS tries to confirm the person actually lives at the address.
Online verification usually relies on knowledge-based authentication questions pulled from public records and credit history, along the lines of “Which of these addresses have you been associated with?” or “What was your monthly mortgage payment in 2019?” If those questions cannot confirm identity, USPS sends a one-time numeric passcode by text message as part of its multifactor authentication process.3United States Postal Service (USPS). Multifactor Authentication (MFA)
When online verification fails entirely, USPS offers two fallbacks: a verification code mailed to the physical address, or in-person identity proofing at a participating Post Office with original, unexpired identification.4United States Postal Service (USPS). USPS In-Person Identity Proofing After every successful enrollment, USPS mails a welcome letter to the address confirming an account has been created.
Where the Safeguards Fall Short
Knowledge-based questions draw on data from credit bureaus and public records. A family member, ex-spouse, or anyone who has lived with you likely knows enough to pass. Someone holding your personal information from a data breach may pass too.
The mailed verification code is one of the stronger protections because it requires physical access to the mailbox. That protection collapses when the person enrolling actually lives at or has access to the address. Roommates, estranged partners, adult children, and landlords who enter the property all fit that description. The welcome letter USPS sends after enrollment is meant to alert the real resident, but it arrives as ordinary mail. If the person who enrolled is intercepting mail already, they can pull that letter before you ever see it.
USPS verification works well against strangers with no connection to your address. It is much weaker against people who share your home, recently moved out, or hold enough of your personal data to answer credit-based questions.
The Previous Resident Problem
This is the scenario that catches most people off guard. You move into a new home or apartment, and the previous occupant still has an active Informed Delivery account for that address. They keep receiving daily email digests with images of mail arriving at your home. Nothing in the system automatically deactivates their account when they file a change of address or when you move in.
If you try to sign up for Informed Delivery and find an account is already linked to your address, that is a strong sign the previous resident never canceled theirs.
Household Members
USPS describes Informed Delivery as a service for “residential, business and eligible PO Box consumers,” but its guidance is not entirely clear on whether multiple adults at the same address can maintain separate active accounts simultaneously.1United States Postal Service (USPS). Informed Delivery – The Basics The welcome letter states that if the account “was not created by you or someone in your household,” you can deactivate it. That phrasing acknowledges household members may enroll, but it does not promise each person gets an independent feed filtered to their name only.
In practice, a spouse, partner, or roommate who signs up may see images of your mail alongside theirs. If mail privacy between household members matters to you, this is worth discussing before anyone enrolls.
Signs Someone Else Already Enrolled
- An unexpected welcome letter from USPS about a new Informed Delivery account you did not create.
- You try to create an account and discover one already exists for your address, especially after a recent move.
- Expected mail such as checks, cards, or account statements never arrives, while routine junk mail does. Someone may be using previews to identify valuable pieces before stealing them.
- Login alerts or account-change emails on an existing Informed Delivery account you did not trigger.
The welcome letter is the most reliable early warning. Do not throw it away unopened just because it looks like routine USPS mail.
How to Shut Down an Unauthorized Account
Move quickly. Every day the account stays active is another day someone sees images of your incoming mail.
USPS runs an unsubscribe and deactivation page where you can enter an “Unsubscribe Code” mailed to the address to shut down an existing account. One of the listed reasons for deactivation is “I don’t recognize the account.”5United States Postal Service (USPS). Unsubscribe/Deactivate Informed Delivery
If you never received the unsubscribe code, or the process is not working, contact USPS directly by calling 1-800-275-8777 or visiting your local Post Office. Explain that an unauthorized Informed Delivery account exists for your address and ask that it be deactivated.6USAGov. File a U.S. Postal Service Complaint
File a report with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the federal law enforcement agency that investigates crimes involving the mail system. You can file online through the USPIS complaint portal or call their hotline.6USAGov. File a U.S. Postal Service Complaint This creates a formal record and may trigger an investigation, particularly if the unauthorized enrollment is tied to a broader identity theft scheme.
Protecting Your Identity After the Fact
If someone enrolled in Informed Delivery for your address without permission, they may already have collected enough information from mail previews to attempt financial fraud. USPS recommends several protective steps when mail-related identity theft is involved.7United States Postal Service (USPS). Identity Theft
- Place a fraud alert by contacting one of the three credit bureaus: Equifax at 800-525-6285, Experian at 888-397-3742, or TransUnion at 800-680-7289. That bureau is required to notify the other two.
- Order credit reports from all three bureaus and check for accounts you did not open or inquiries you did not authorize.
- Notify your banks by phone and in writing. Ask them to flag your accounts and alert you to unusual activity.
- Change PINs, passwords, and security questions on financial accounts, since the person may have gathered enough details from mail previews to attempt access.
A credit freeze goes further than a fraud alert. It blocks new accounts from being opened in your name, while a fraud alert only requires creditors to take extra verification steps. If you suspect someone has been watching your mail for weeks or months, the freeze is the stronger move.
The Federal Law Behind It
Federal law makes it a crime to steal, take, or obtain by fraud any letter, package, or mail from any mail route, post office, or authorized depository. A conviction carries up to five years in federal prison, a fine, or both.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1708 – Theft or Receipt of Stolen Mail Matter Generally
Whether accessing digital mail images through a fraudulently obtained Informed Delivery account qualifies as “obtaining by fraud” under this statute is a question prosecutors would evaluate on the facts. Using deception to intercept information about someone’s mail maps closely onto what the statute prohibits, and it gives federal investigators a basis to take a complaint seriously, particularly when the unauthorized enrollment connects to other fraudulent activity such as opening credit accounts or redirecting mail.