Scott Maiko was dropping off a letter Friday afternoon in the curbside collection box at the Canoga Park Post Office when his letter stuck to the door.

“My envelope stuck to the inside of the pull-down door, and I had to pull it off,” he said. “At the back of the box was a piece of tape hanging down.”

Maiko took his letter inside the post office at Sherman Way and Jordan Avenue and reported it to the clerk. He was told people have been using glue to steal mail.

Stacia Crane, a public information officer for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, said this type of crime is called “fishing.” Thieves use a line – similar to a fishing pole – or some type of “sticky device” to pull mail out of collection boxes.

Occasionally, the device will get stuck or the thief will get scared away and leave the device inside the collection box.

Thieves ‘Fish’ for Mail in Post Office Collection Boxes