Photo credit: Erin Lynch

WESTON, Conn. – The Weston Police Department is advising all residents to be on the lookout for suspicious activity in their bank accounts and in their neighborhood after receiving several reports of mail and identify theft in recent weeks.

The calls started coming into the police headquarters right before the December holidays, and ranged from stolen mail to unauthorized credit card use, Detective Carl Filsinger said.

There have been six incidents of mail theft and four incidents of unauthorized financial activity in Weston in less than a month — and in a small town like Weston, that is a big increase. In the mail thefts, thieves are looking for cash or any private data that could lead to accessing personal information, Filsinger said.

“We used to have bandits robbing the pony express in search of money, we now have information bandits looking to take money from people on the information superhighway,” he said.

You can take three simple steps to avoid becoming a victim of fraud, Filsinger said.

“First, you need to know your credit history. You need to keep track of all your purchases. You also need to change your passwords on a regular basis, I cannot stress that enough,” he said.

The last thing, Filsinger said, which might not be so easy in a spread out town such as Weston, is to just be neighborly. “Because of the rural nature of the roads in town, it is important to know your neighbors. If you see suspicious people, call the police department.”