How to spot a fake locksmith before you call
Stolen photographs, an address that is really a parking lot, and a price that doubles on the doorstep. The pattern is documented — here is how to check in under a minute.
LAK Locksmith Team5 min read
✳04 / 04 · Residential service
Replacement locks and keys for house, condo and apartment mailboxes.
- Category
- Residential
- Availability
- 24/7
- Coverage
- 10 GTA cities
- The visit
- 3 steps
✳On this page
What this actually involves
Mailbox locks are small, non-standard, and rarely stocked by general hardware stores, which is why broken ones tend to stay broken. We match the cam lock to your box, fit it, and cut the keys on site. Condo and apartment banks usually take a specific lock body and cam length — the part most people get wrong buying one themselves.
Why broken mailbox locks stay broken
A mailbox lock is a small cam lock in a non-standard housing, and the exact cam length and body style vary by box — which is why the one from the hardware store so often spins uselessly or fouls the door. General locksmiths decline the work as too small; handy owners buy the wrong part twice. We stock the common cam bodies, match the right one to your box, fit it, and cut its keys on the spot, so the whole errand is one short visit.
The stakes are higher than the lock
Your mail is banking letters, government ID renewals, tax slips and replacement cards — the raw material of identity theft. An unlocked or broken mailbox in a shared lobby is an open filing cabinet with your name on it. Condo and apartment mailbox banks take a specific lock body and cam length per panel, and we fit those too; for units the building manages, we can work with your property manager's authorisation.
How the visit goes
Start to finish, so nothing on the day is a surprise.
- Step 01
Identify the box
A photo of the box and its lock, sent or described when you call, is usually enough to arrive with the right cam lock the first time.
- Step 02
Prove it is yours
ID and your unit or address check, same as any other lock we open or change — mail privacy is exactly the wrong place for shortcuts.
- Step 03
Fit and key
Old lock out, correct cam body in, keys cut at the visit — including spares for everyone in the household.
What to expect
Mail carries banking, government and identity documents — an open mailbox is an identity-theft problem, not an inconvenience
Correct cam length and lock body matched to your box, including multi-unit banks
Extra keys cut at the same visit for everyone in the household
Asked before calling
The questions this job actually gets, answered the way they would be on the phone.
For a private or building mailbox, yes — we open it, replace the small cam lock, and cut new keys in one visit, once your ID and unit check out.
Where we go
Residential work is mobile across the GTA — the technician and the equipment come to you, 24/7. Based at 470 N Rivermede Rd, Vaughan.
- Toronto
- Vaughan
- Markham
- Brampton
- Mississauga
- Richmond Hill
- Scarborough
- Pickering
- Ajax
- Oshawa
More residential work
Not the job you have? The rest of what we do on this side of the trade — every one of them its own page, written the same way.
Related reading
The journal covers this side of the trade in depth — how things fail, what they cost you when they do, and what to check before calling anyone at all.
Locked out of your house: what actually happens when a locksmith arrives
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The other doors
Everything LAK does sits in one of these: your car, your bike, your home or your business.
- (01)Emergency4 services
- (02)Automotive7 services
- (03)Motorcycle4 services
- (04)Residential4 services
- (05)Commercial4 services