Junk mail, even in its oft-abundant annoyance, still can act as a little gift to some, and at times can provide valuable, useful and personal information to a thief.

"It kind of ebbs and flows, but it is an ongoing thing. It's something we've been doing for probably hundreds of years," said postal inspector Linda Joe of investigating mail theft. "It used to be mostly check theft, but now we've gotten more into the identity theft aspect."

When Almaden's Linda York was out on Firewood Court for an evening walk on June 10, she happened upon an envelope lying on the sidewalk near a neighbor's yard.

"I just picked it up and continued walking," said York, who added that she's always finding things. She says she was in a shopping mall one day and discovered a pile of packages someone had accidentally left behind. Another more recent occasion put her at a local Starbucks, where she spotted a wallet stuffed full of money. It belonged to a firefighter who was grateful for its prompt return by York.

"I try to return everything that I can return," she says.

It wasn't until she took a closer look at the contents of the envelope that she realized what she had found. Stuffed inside the larger envelope were more pieces of mail belonging to four separate residences on different streets—Wooded Lake Drive, Cordilla and Glenview Drive—none of which are located in her neighborhood. There was a phone statement, a $32,000 construction bill and a $600 tab for golf fees, and "some of it was just plain junk," York says.

York contacted all the people the mail was addressed to and met with each of them to return it.

"I felt really odd [calling them]," she says. "I told them, 'This isn't a prank, but I found your mail.' "

Linda Gonzales, supervisor at the Crown Boulevard post office, said that how York came upon the mail is not unusual.

The thieves will drive along collecting mail from mounted mailboxes—which is the style of box found overwhelmingly in Almaden Valley, as opposed to the door slot or multiple-box style found in apartment or condominium complexes. They'll pull over on another neighborhood street, rifle through their bounty, keep the pieces they want and then casually toss the leftovers on the side of the street. The information collected—such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and bank account numbers—all can be used to establish unauthorized new accounts under a victim's name.

"Mail theft or possession of stolen mail is a maximum up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 fine for each offense," Joe said. "For identity theft, the penalty is up to 10 years."

Identity theft that funds any kind of terrorist activity carries a penalty of up to 25 years, she added. Identity fraud is the fastest-growing crime in the United States, costing financial institutions and businesses $48 billion and individuals $5 billion last year, according to the U.S. Postal Inspector's office.

It may take months for some people to discover their identity has been stolen, and oftentimes people don't know they are missing a piece of mail.

"We have no idea what we didn't receive," said Victor Tsang, one of the residents whose mail was returned by York.

Gonzales and Joe said that there are ongoing postal investigations occurring all over the Bay Area, including parts of South San Jose, and mail theft occurs often in areas like Almaden where mailboxes are mounted at the ends of driveways.

"We encourage people to let us know [about missing or stolen mail]; otherwise, we won't know if there is a problem in a particular neighborhood," Joe said.

There are steps consumers can take to prevent mail theft, and Joe recommends that consumers be diligent in keeping track of their credit history.

Mary Ball, postmaster at the New Almaden office, said it's really important for people to pick up their mail from boxes every day. At homes with long driveways, she said people will occasionally skip a day or more of retrieving their mail, allowing it to pile up inside the boxes.

Other tips offered by Ball, Gonzales and Joe include installing a locking mailbox, one that allows a postal carrier to drop mail into a slot and with which the owner uses a key to retrieve the mail. They also recommend taking outgoing mail directly to the post office and depositing it in the slots inside the building. Gonzales said that putting outbound mail in mounted boxes at homes and raising the red flag is like pointing out the loot to a thief. She also said that clever criminals have found a way to plug up the slots on blue mailboxes located throughout the city, preventing the envelopes from dropping all the way into the blue boxes, allowing the thief to come back at a later time and scoop out the goods.

"There's a lot people can do, they just have to be persistent," Ball says.

For additional information visit the U.S. Postal Inspection Service website at www.usps.gov/postalinspectors. To file a mail fraud complaint, visit any local post office and complete a "mail theft and vandalism complaint" form or online send an email to fraud@uspis.gov. To register a complaint by telephone, call 1.800.Fraud IS or 800.372.8347. Information on purchasing locking mailboxes can be obtained at a local post office.