Has someone been trying to pick my mailbox??

[jbrown346]

Hi everyone.

I live in an apartment and the mailbox is in a publicly accessible place.

I just got home from work and found this item on top of the mailbox:


(Click for bigger version.)

Is this a lock pick? If not, do you know what it is?

Thanks

J.

[UWSDWF]

I don't think it's a pick, could be tried to be used as on if it fits in the keyway..... doesn't look like one to me though

[melvin2001]

its possible although unlikely. that is a pretty poorly made pick if thats what they were going for. but unfortunately many wafer tumbler locks (commonly used on cheap lock boxes, mailboxes, file cabinets, etc) can be opened by cramming just about anything in them (assuming the person doing the cramming knows something about picking that is).

I guess the best answer i can give is "maybe". thats not really a very good pick so if it WAS someone trying to get in your mailbox... they probably didn't succeed as they obviously are an idiot. I would keep an eye out just in case, but i wouldn't be too concerned that anything is missing.

[jbrown346]

Thanks for your replies.

could be tried to be used as on if it fits in the keyway

I tried to put it in the keyway. It kind of fits, but not really.

if it WAS someone trying to get in your mailbox... they probably didn't succeed as they obviously are an idiot.

Agreed. You'd have to be fairly inept to leave the pick on top of the lock.

The thing is that recently I found mail torn up and partially hidden near my apartment. It was forms for the electoral register (so quite important documents!) addressed to someone in my block. Naturally I let them know about it, but it shows that someone has compromised these mailboxes recently, so I'm quite suspicious now. TBH I suspect their mail was fished out using some sort of tool rather than lock picking though. The people who are likely to be doing it don't seem to have the patience/skill to pick the lock.

I appreciate you replies. Thank you.

[pauly003]

It might have been used to just pry open your box

[hurri]

I'm sure that the guy who tried to pick your mailbox knows about locks as a know about chinese make-up.....

[JackNco]

probaly not but light a candel under the lock and get some carbon on it. if there are marks in it then u knwo someones been at it

[Kaotik]

Regardless of how it is made (poorly), I would safely say that it is a pick.

The person obviously had no luck with it and left it their, this maybe common to find this on the ground around the vesinity but some what ignorant to leave it on the mail boxes to make it obvious to pasers by.

Definitely an inexperienced person.

[Raccoon]

Many apartment cluster boxes extend above the average height of a person, so this utensil may have been left on top expecting that nobody would check.

I would suggest showing this to your mail courier and letting them know that you found it, and that you recently found someone's mail torn up. I assume when you returned that person's mail, they were surprised and said they didn't tear it up themselves?

Ask the land lord for security cameras.

[Legion303]

Tampering with mailboxes is a federal crime. Hand it over to your mail carrier and get the Postal Inspection Service involved.

-steve

[jbrown346]

Regardless of how it is made (poorly), I would safely say that it is a pick.

The photograph may be a little misleading... the item is actually engineered very precisely. The body curves slightly in two places (away from the camera, then back towards it) which is what makes it looks slightly bent / misshapen in the photograph.

Definitely an inexperienced person.

Yes, it sounds like the person using it was inexperienced, but whoever made it had considerable skill. To be honest it seems mass produced to my untrained eye.

I assume when you returned that person's mail, they were surprised and said they didn't tear it up themselves?

I could never find a time when they were in, so I put their mail back in their box with a letter explaining what I had found and advising them to contact the police. Obviously there is a chance that my letter could be stolen from the box, but I don't think we are dealing with a master criminal here. I suspect it's either a drug addict or one of the drunken teenagers that hang about. (This is considered a nice area as well - which says a lot about law and order in the UK right now!)

I would suggest showing this to your mail courier and letting them know that you found it, and that you recently found someone's mail torn up.

Tampering with mailboxes is a federal crime. Hand it over to your mail carrier and get the Postal Inspection Service involved.

I advised my neighbor to contact the police (I'm in the UK) as the crime was committed against them, and they have irrefutable evidence that it occurred.

As I only have suspicions that someone is tampering with my mail, I'll have to wait until I have some more evidence before contacting the authorities. Unfortunately the police here are so overworked and powerless, they are quite ineffective unless the crime is considered extremely serious

Thanks again everyone.

J.

[jbrown346]

probaly not but light a candel under the lock and get some carbon on it. if there are marks in it then u knwo someones been at it

What sort of marks should I be looking for, and where abouts on the lock would they be?

Cheers,


J.

[HeadHunterCEO]

thats a horrible pick
looks like a penny

[hurri]

thats a horrible pick
looks like a penny

that's funny...

[HeadHunterCEO]

thats a horrible pick
looks like a penny

that's funny...

i try