Posted: 4/10/2026 6:25:38 PM EDT
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Background Bought an old briefcase at an estate sale. Got it home and discovered there were a bunch of family photos, letters and other personal effects in side. One of the items was a change of address for what I am assuming was the prior owner. So decided to do something nice and put everything in an envelope, types up a short letter how all this happened and commented that I thought the family would want it back. I have a PO Box and a home mail box. So I decided to use my PO Box as the return address on the letter. It’s the only real link on this to who I am. Pay the postage and send it off. Fast forward to today I pick up our daily home mail and I see a thank you letter in it. Open it up and it was the family thanking me for sending for sending the pictures back. At first I was like, that was nice to acknowledge the effort, then it hit me; how in the hell did they get my home address! I am blown away, I thought I had a layer of anonymity using the PO Box, but I guess that is a false sense of security. So this is news to me that people can reverse engineer a PO Box to an actual home address. What am I missing on knowing that allowed this to happen? |
I'm not lazy, I just really enjoy doing nothing.
Joined:
Mar 2019
Posts:
14838
EE: 100% (17)
USA
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Originally Posted By Cacinok: @bowmanch Did you put your name on the envelope? If so, finding your home address is easy. All Deeds, mortgages, etc., are public record and it's not hard to find your address at your county's recorders office. Or even Tax department. I put my last name on it and my city and state. The PO box address is what I used for my return address. |
I'm a YouTuber and so opec for the most part is out the window. Some locals Kina figured out kinda where I live (close but not that close as there is a noticeable mountain in my background and I'm in a million acres of woods) but yea most can find you close enough. I have done the same. I have a PO Box for the YouTube channel and one viewer sent a letter to my home address  . They had looked at the same property that I bought. And I went out to dinner with them and really nice people. ( I reversed searched them too  )I was at the post office and a guy grabbed the door and looked at me twice and then was like "I love your videos" I have been recognized a few times in a few different states and I only have 6k subscribers |
have gun will travel
Well you seen much combat? ......... I've seen a little on TV.
We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns.
Lifetime NRA member SADLY
now GOA and ASA member!!!!!
Well you seen much combat? ......... I've seen a little on TV.
We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns.
Lifetime NRA member SADLY
now GOA and ASA member!!!!!
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Originally Posted By bowmanch: I put my last name on it and my city and state. The PO box address is what I used for my return address. now search your po box address That will give you a lot of info, especially knowing last name. If your county property appraiser is online and you own a property in your name, that will give them every spec on your home. This is all common knowledge these days. |