Mail forwarding security depends entirely on the provider you choose. When you use a mail forwarding service, a third party is receiving, handling, opening, and scanning your most sensitive documents: tax returns, bank statements, checks, legal notices, credit cards, and government correspondence. The best providers operate under SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance standards, use bank-grade encryption for all scanned documents, run in-house mail handling facilities with 24/7 surveillance and access controls, require two-factor authentication on every account, and securely shred all discarded mail. Providers that rely on independent third-party mail operators, lack formal security certifications, or don’t clearly explain their physical and digital security protocols should raise immediate red flags. Your mail forwarding service should treat your documents with at least the same level of security your bank does.
First of all, you are provided with a personal mailbox number (pmb) which is yours and yours alone. The mail forwarding company will never disclose this information to anyone without your consent. To obtain a pmb, there are certain documents that are required:
- Two forms of ID for each person on the plan
- A verified credit card
These are ways we ensure “you are who you say you are”. Unfortunately, mail forwarding is an easy way to impersonate someone and start receiving their mail, credit cards and checks. However, it’s not easy to pilfer multiple IDs for the same one person. Though tedious, these are necessary steps to guarantee the safety of our customers.
The only persons who can access your virtual mailbox are you and all those listed on the account. No other customer will be able to see your mail or its contents. Nothing is done without the consent of the customer. Mail isn’t forwarded without a request, nor is it scanned without a request. Mail is neither trashed nor shredded without a request. Your mail will literally sit untouched, in your pmb until a request is made. When requesting a scan of a letter, you will be directly emailed and directed to a pdf of the item once it is scanned. The scan requests automatically get deleted after 120 days – just another safety measure.
Your inbox is itemized by date and each item is tagged with a unique barcode. If any issues arise with any of your mail or packages, you will be able to pinpoint the problem immediately. Security, confidentiality and trust are key factors when choosing the right company to forward your sensitive personal mail. Be sure to peruse the company’s social media outlets to see what other people are saying. Getting the perspective of other individuals like yourself, is always helpful when delving into something new.
How to Find a Secure Mail Forwarding Service You Can Trust
Of course, a big part of protecting your mail and securing your packages and parcels is finding a service you know you can trust. There’s very little worry about the United States Postal Service (USPS) mishandling your mail maliciously. Tampering with the mail is a federal offense (a very serious crime), and people can be criminally charged for even opening up mail that wasn’t addressed to them. Sure, the post office sometimes is delayed or even loses packages or parcels – but they are responsible for moving millions and millions of pieces of mail every day and do a great job at eliminating those issues as much as they can.
When you move to a mail forwarding service, however, those federal protections are not always in place. You’re having a third-party organization handled your mail for you. Part of the agreement with all of these professional companies entails you giving them permission to handle and sometimes even open your mail for you. This is not something that you can leave to people that you are unsure of, services you might not be able to trust, or services that you haven’t fully researched and investigated. You need to know – 100%, beyond a shadow of a doubt – that these companies handling your mail can be trusted with personal, private, and sensitive information.
Below we highlight a couple of things you really need to focus on to make sure that you are only ever working with experts that can be trusted.
Reputation
When you sign up for a mail forwarding service, you’re handing over something most people don’t think about carefully enough: access to your most sensitive physical documents. Bank statements with account numbers. IRS notices with your Social Security number. Checks made out to you or your business. Legal documents with deadlines. Credit cards and government-issued IDs.
If you’re going to trust a company with all of that, you need to understand exactly how they protect it, both physically and digitally. Know what questions to ask before you sign up, and the red flags that should send you elsewhere.
Look at reviews. Check out the BBB [Better Business Bureau] profile, for example. You want to read about complaints that have been made about these companies, how they have remedied these issues, and what their overall standing is in the industry and online in general. Again, an hour or two of research (starting on Google) can point you in the right direction of almost all resources you need to investigate the reputation of these companies. It’s not going to take that long, it’s not going to be that hard, but it is going to give you the confidence to move forward with a company or to ignore it all together. Do your research and due diligence. It’s absolutely critical that you do.
Security Solutions: The Two Sides of Mail Forwarding Security
Security in mail forwarding breaks down into two categories, and you need both.
Physical Security: Where Your Mail Actually Sits
Your mail exists as a physical object before it becomes a digital file. That means the facility where it’s received, stored, opened, and scanned needs to be secured like any environment handling sensitive documents.
Here’s what to look for:
In-house facilities vs. third-party locations. This is the single biggest security distinction in the industry. Some mail forwarding services operate their own secure facilities with dedicated, trained staff. Others use networks of independent third-party operators, often retail shipping stores, coworking spaces, or small business centers. The difference matters. When a provider runs its own facility, it controls who has access to your mail, how staff are trained and screened, and how documents are handled at every step. When a provider relies on third-party operators, your mail is sitting in a location the company doesn’t directly manage, handled by people the company didn’t hire.
24/7 surveillance. The facility should have security cameras covering all mail receiving, processing, and storage areas. This isn’t just for theft prevention. It creates an audit trail if something goes wrong.
Controlled access. Only authorized personnel should be able to enter the area where mail is stored and processed. Walk-in customers, delivery drivers, and other tenants should not have access to the same space where your documents are being handled.
Trained and screened staff. The people opening your mail and scanning your documents should be employees who have been background-checked and trained on document handling procedures, not part-time retail workers processing your mail between shipping label transactions.
Digital Security: How Your Scanned Documents Are Protected
Once your mail is scanned, it becomes a digital file. That file contains images of everything inside the envelope, which means it needs to be protected with the same rigor as any other sensitive digital document. Here’s what to look for:
Encryption in transit and at rest. Scanned documents should be encrypted when they’re transmitted to your dashboard and when they’re stored on the provider’s servers. Bank-grade encryption (AES-256) is the standard. If a provider doesn’t specify their encryption method, ask.
Two-factor authentication (2FA). Your account should require more than just a password to access. 2FA adds a second verification step (usually a code sent to your email or phone) that prevents unauthorized access even if someone gets your password.
Role-based access controls. If you have multiple team members on your account, you should be able to control who sees what. Not everyone on your team needs access to tax documents or legal correspondence.
Automatic scan deletion policies. Scanned documents shouldn’t live on a server indefinitely without your explicit choice to keep them. Look for providers that automatically delete scans after a set period (example 180 days) unless you choose to archive them.
Secure cloud storage. When you do choose to keep scanned documents, they should be stored in encrypted cloud infrastructure, not on a local server in the same building as your mail.
Security Certifications That Actually Mean Something
There are two certifications that matter most when evaluating a mail forwarding service’s security posture. If a provider has both, you can have real confidence in how they handle your documents. If they have neither, you should ask why.
SOC 2 Type II
SOC 2 (Service Organization Control 2) is a security framework developed by the American Institute of CPAs. A SOC 2 Type II audit means an independent third party has reviewed the company’s security controls over a sustained period (typically 6 to 12 months) and verified that they meet rigorous standards for data security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
This is not a self-reported checklist. It’s an independent audit that costs real money and takes real effort to pass. Companies that hold SOC 2 Type II certification have demonstrated, through external verification, that their systems and processes protect customer data.
HIPAA Compliance
If your mail includes any protected health information (PHI), your mail forwarding provider needs to be HIPAA compliant. This applies to healthcare providers, insurance companies, medical billing firms, and any business that handles patient or member health data.
HIPAA compliance means the provider has implemented specific administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect health information. It also means they’re willing to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), which makes them legally responsible for protecting that data.
Even if your business doesn’t handle health data directly, HIPAA compliance is a strong indicator that a provider takes security seriously across the board.
US Global Mail holds both SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA certifications, and BAAs are available for customers who require them.
USPS Form 1583: Why It Exists and Why It Matters
Every legitimate mail forwarding service will require you to complete USPS Form 1583 before they can receive mail on your behalf. This form is a federal requirement, not a company policy. It exists to prevent mail fraud.
Form 1583 requires two things:
Two valid forms of identification. One must be a government-issued photo ID (passport, driver’s license). The second can be another form of ID or a document like a utility bill, bank statement, or vehicle registration.
Notarization. The form must be notarized to verify your identity. In 2026, most providers (including US Global Mail) support online notarization via video call, so you don’t need to visit a notary in person.
If a mail forwarding service doesn’t require Form 1583, that’s not a convenience. It’s a red flag. It means they’re either not a registered Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (CMRA) with USPS, or they’re cutting corners on a federal requirement designed to protect you.
The verification process might feel like extra work, but it’s the same reason your bank requires ID to open an account. It ensures that only you can authorize someone to receive your mail.
Sending Mail Through Your Forwarding Service
It’s always a good idea to send ALL of your mail – personal, private, business-related, etc. – through your forwarding service when you have found a company you know you can trust. Again, this kind of cleans up the paper trail and keeps your addresses unlinked from one another. When you send your mail through a forwarding service you’re provided with a separate address that has no tangible link to you, your name, or your identity. That’s a huge benefit when it comes to privacy and security.
Take Advantage of the Street Address Provided by These Services
The street address that you are provided by proper mail forwarding services should be taken advantage of as much as you can. Street address provides a bit more credibility, a bit more legitimacy, and even a bit of extra anonymity – particularly when it has no real link to you or your identity the way that these addresses will. You can use the street address for a lot of purposes online as well as off, using it as your mailing address exclusively. You won’t run into the same issues that PO boxes inevitably bring to the table, either. Services and sites that will not accept PO boxes will always accept the street address from your mail forwarding organization.
How US Global Mail Secures Your Mail
US Global Mail is far and away one of the most trusted and reputable organizations in the mail forwarding and mail scanning industry. With a sterling silver reputation, a fantastic customer service department, and glowingly positive reviews all over the internet it’s really hard not to like everything that this organization has to offer. On top of the approach they take to securing and privatizing your information and your identity, they also offer some of the best mail scanning and mail forwarding services money can buy. You’ll have an opportunity to leverage these solutions throughout the United States as well as anywhere overseas – as long as a piece of mail can physically reach you, US Global Mail has you covered!
To learn a little bit more about everything that this organization has to offer, as well as detailed information regarding their pricing structure, the services they provide, and the way that they protect your privacy and anonymity, visit their website at your earliest convenience. Just don’t be surprised if you find yourself blown away by all that US Global Mail has to offer. There’s a reason why so many people have already chosen to create an account with this platform, and why so many people find them to be very best of all the different mail forwarding organizations out there right now. Here is a trusted and very well secured mail forwarding service we recommend!
