People in one Hayward community are on alert after an outbreak of mail thefts in their neighborhood.

One resident tells KRON4 the thefts have been going on for years and they are fed up.

Now, they say they finally caught the thieves on camera.

This is all happening in the Twin Bridges neighborhood of Hayward on Cedarbrook Road.

On Wednesday, KRON4 spoke with residents who got their mail stolen. One of them was a victim of identity theft.

The thieves are sticking their hands inside the mailboxes and grabbing anything they can reach. Apparently, it’s been going on for years.

The last known incident happened almost two weeks ago, and it was caught on home surveillance video.

“They’ve taken stacks of mail,” resident Theresa Reyes said. “When I come to my mailbox, there’s mail on the ground. They’ve rifled through my mail.”

Reyes says for six years, thieves have been stealing mail from her neighbors.

The latest strike was on Jun. 28. It was caught on home surveillance video, and they appear to be operating in teams.

In the video, you see the pair walking during the early morning hours on Cedarbrook Road 

They’re digging through Theresa’s mailbox. They have the white package she was expecting.

“My husband bought a bunch of Star Wars lapel pins, and in the video, she walked away with the package and the pins were delivered that day,” Reyes said.

A couple of houses down, Theresa’s neighbor realized he became a victim of identity theft in January.

“They stole very important pieces of information, tax return papers, 1099s,” said another resident, who didn’t reveal his name. “They also stole a brand new debit card from an account that I opened.”

The man wants to share his story, so it doesn’t happen again.

“They used the card and the bank would try to stop it,” he said. “They would call into the bank and pretend to be me. They got lucky with the security question, which was too easy of a security question, describing the make and model of my car. They got it right because that car was still on the driveway.”

It took four months to get the thousands of dollars taken from him.

He says he’s working with Hayward police. They say to turn in any video or information on these cases.

City officials suggest downloading community apps like Nextdoor to be in the know of what’s happening in your neighborhood.

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