07 Nov Should I worry about wrongly addressed mail?

Q. I recently received a cruise line flyer describing discounted cruises that I have qualified for —- except it was addressed to someone else but with my address! Should I be concerned? If yes, what are the steps I should take?
— Concerned

A. It’s always strange when you receive mail that’s addressed to someone else.

The Bamboozled column has written about this before, but with something more consequential than a cruise come-on. It was a series of bank statements for someone who didn’t live at the address, and the homeowner was concerned that someone was using the address for any number of things — without their permission.

It rightly raised concerns about possible identity theft.

But in your case, it’s probably a simple database error. Someone, somehow probably just mixed up your address with someone else’s name.

Indeed, we still get junk mail for the previous owners of our house — even though we’ve owned it for 25 years.

To be safe, you should keep an eye on your mail to see if anything more comes in for the other person. Check to make sure there are no unexpected packages on your doorstep — scammers do indeed sometimes send packages to an address, hoping they can swipe it off the porch because you notice.

And you should also make sure your credit reports are frozen — not because of this, specifically, but because it’s generally good advice.

Let us know if something else unexpected is delivered to your home.

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This story was originally published in October 2025.

NJMoneyHelp.com presents certain general financial planning principles and advice, but should never be viewed as a substitute for obtaining advice from a personal professional advisor who understands your unique individual circumstances.