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Locals claim Brooklyn’s most crime-plagued mailbox is in Prospect Lefferts Gardens
GOING POSTAL: Brian Cunningham said the city must replace what he called one of its most crime-plauged
mailboxes with a more secure version. Photo by Trey Pentecost
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BY COLIN MIXSON
Crafty kleptos are targeting
a Prospect Lefferts Gardens
drop box — and locals claim
no one’s mail is safe!
The blue mailbox at Midwood
Street and Flatbush Avenue
is one of the single most
pilfered collection points operated
by the U.S. Postal Service
in the borough, according
to area advocates, who’ve
created a website called worstmailboxever.
com that locals
can use to petition the city
for a more secure drop box to
send out their rent checks and
birthday cards.
“For years right here at
Midwood Street and Flatbush
Avenue our residents have
had their rent checks, bill
payments, cards to loved ones
— you name it’s sic been stolen
from this mailbox,” wrote
Seth Kaplan, a longtime area
resident and prolifi c community
advocate, on the petition
site that went live on Sunday.
“It’s one of the worst mailboxes
in Brooklyn!”
The USPS blue box is
a frequent topic of discussion
at community meetings
hosted by the 71st Precinct,
where cops and postal reps
19
have singled out that specifi c
crate, claiming mail there
frequently falls victim to socalled
“fi shing scams,” according
to another peeved
Prospect Lefferts Gardens
resident.
“It’s the most infamous
mail package theft in New
York City based on the NYPD
and Postal Service’s own admission,”
said Brian Cunningham,
who launched a
hard-fought, but losing challenge
for Mathieu Eugene’s
Council seat in 2017. “This is
a mailbox people are advised
not to use.”
The fi shing scam is a lowtech,
but highly effective technique
for pulling letters from
USPS blue boxes using nothing
more than a length of
string and a sticky glue trap
meant for capturing rodents.
And the selfi sh scheme
is hitting senior citizens the
hardest, according to Cunningham,
who said many elders
don’t realize their mail’s
been stolen until their landlords
start demanding payment
weeks, or even months
after checks were sent out.
“For seniors, who are pay-
Continued on page 36
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