Residents in one Sunnyvale neighborhood said they are fed up with thieves stealing mail and packages from their mailboxes and that now some are taking steps to track them down.
Security camera footage from Friday morning showed a person opening several mailboxes with a key, and then others grabbed what was inside.
"They robbed a substantial amount of mail and packages from our entire community along this row," said Jay, one of the residents.
NBC Bay Area is referring to the resident as Jay for safety reasons.
Jay said that a similar incident occurred on Thursday.
Though, this is not the first time the same mailboxes have been targeted. Jay said in February 2023 that his W-2s were stolen.
Local
He and other neighbors expressed their concerns about identity theft and questioned why the U.S. Postal Service did not change the mailbox's lock after the first break-in.
"We look at a number of security options, but we do have operational considerations," said Jeff Fitch, a postal inspector.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Jay said he grew frustrated and planted a GPS tracker in a fake package, which he said was traced to a home in San Jose. He has since filed a police report with the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.
Jay added that he found a master key he believed the suspects may have used, but he is worried the thieves could have made several copies.
The Postal Service is investigating the incidents and said it encourages people to report mail theft as soon as a it happens.
