The holidays may be the most wonderful time of the year, but they’re also prime season for scammers looking to exploit increased mailing activity. On this episode of Mailin’ It!, Karla and Jonathan are joined by Eric Shen from the Postal Inspection Service to discuss the 2024 holiday scams awareness campaign, “Don’t Get Snowed by Holiday Scams.” From counterfeit postage and phishing schemes to mail theft and carrier safety, this episode equips listeners with practical tips and insights to safeguard themselves and their mail during the holidays.
This week on Mailin’ It!, Karla Kirby and Jonathan Castillo welcome back Eric Shen, Inspector in Charge at the Postal Inspection Service’s Criminal Investigations Group. With the holiday season in full swing, Eric sheds light on the Postal Inspection Service’s 2024 holiday scams awareness campaign, “Don’t Get Snowed by Holiday Scams,” which focuses on protecting USPS customers and employees during the busiest time of the year. Tune in to hear Eric break down the top scams targeting customers, including counterfeit stamps, phishing and smishing schemes, and mail theft, while sharing actionable advice to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Karla Kirby:
Hi, everybody. Welcome to Mailin’ it, the official podcast of the United States Postal Service. I'm Karla Kirby.
Jonathan Castillo:
And I'm Jonathan Castillo. The winter holidays are always our peak season for mail. It turns out they're also peak season for scammers, people looking to take advantage of the increase in activity across our mail network to cheat or steal from our customers.
Karla Kirby:
Earlier this year, we spoke with Eric Shen, Inspector in Charge at the Postal Inspection Services Criminal Investigations Group about investment scams. One of Eric's main messages was the Inspection Service is diligent in its efforts to protect postal customers all year round. Eric is with us again, this episode to talk about the most common scams that surface this time of year, and how you can prevent yourself from becoming a victim. Eric, welcome back to Mailin’ It.
Eric Shen:
Thank you. Great to be back. Thank you for having me.
Jonathan Castillo:
Eric, this year's Inspection Service awareness campaign is called Don't Get Snowed by Holiday Scams. What specific issues does the campaign target?
Eric Shen:
Three specific issues that we are targeting this year specifically and most importantly postal employee safety being one of those, but counterfeit postage, phishing, and smishing mail and package theft.
Karla Kirby:
So, let's start at the top. This is a good time of year to stock up on stamps, especially with so many people, mail and greeting cards. What should people know about counterfeit stamps?
Eric Shen:
Well, for starters, if you're seeing stamps at 20% to 50% off their face value, it is a scam. Some big box or warehouse retailers have resale agreements with the Postal Service, but they provide very small discounts on postage stamps. Frauds are targeting consumers online in several places where you're seeing those huge discounts social media platforms, third party e-commerce sites, and pop-up ads. These stamps can come in a variety of designs meant to mimic real postage.
Jonathan Castillo:
Can you give us some idea of just how big this problem really is?
Eric Shen:
Yes. the number of counterfeit stamps sold online has increased dramatically. One seizure of counterfeit stamps the Inspection Service has reported was worth about $150,000 and being sold for about half that amount. In another case, a married couple was caught after selling about 1.5 million stamps on various online marketplaces and websites. Many counterfeit stamps are printed outside the US and the most frequently counterfeited stamp has been the flag stamp. More recently, investigators have found counterfeit copies of Postal's Starburst stamps too, but counterfeiters are now coming up with a wide variety of fakes.
Karla Kirby:
Okay, Eric, so are most of the counterfeit stamps bought online where people just don't have a chance to look at them closely?
Eric Shen:
Yes, that is correct. For the most part the counterfeit stamps are offered online and mailed directly to the consumer. USPS has its own stamp distribution network, so there's not much of a chance of a counterfeit stamps being sold in a Post Office.
Jonathan Castillo:
What should people do if they come across a vendor - you know - a website or a social media post selling what appears to be counterfeit stamps?
Eric Shen:
The number one thing is don't buy stamps from someone you don't know, or if the site is suspicious, just like the ones that you've mentioned. People should also know that buying and using counterfeit stamps is a federal crime. If you've been a victim of stamp counterfeiting or suspect a site is selling counterfeit stamps, reach out to us at postagefraudreporting@usps.gov.
Jonathan Castillo:
How would someone be able to tell or identify a fake stamp? You know, are there any tells that we might be, you know, looking for?
Eric Shen:
You know, these counterfeit stamps or fake stamps are really well made, so there aren't really any telltale signs especially if it's being sold online, because a lot of the pictures that you see online could be legitimate stamps, but the ones you receive will be more often than not fake. So when you go on these sites and you see a big discount, they are probably fake.
Jonathan Castillo:
That's the tell.
Karla Kirby:
So it's not like stamps have like a watermark or anything like that where you could like hold it up to the light and tell.
Jonathan Castillo:
No.
Karla Kirby:
Okay.
Eric Shen:
Well, it can activate a computer or phone virus or lure you into giving away sensitive information. Phishing involves emails that try to get you to click on links, and smishing is when they do something similar using text messages. And believe me, I get those text message on a daily as well. You know, I think the main thing you do is you do not click on any links saying they're from the Postal Service. If you see certain red flags and the red flags are text or email uses poor grammar, including spelling errors or asks you for payment or personal information of any kind, the Postal Service is not going to text you about a package waiting for delivery. That's not how we operate.
Karla Kirby:
So follow up to that on the emails or even a text messages, I guess if it's from something like a Gmail or something like that, it's probably not gonna be from the Postal Service, correct?
Eric Shen:
Correct. If you're gonna get something from the Postal Service, it would be usps.gov.
Jonathan Castillo:
You know, really interesting on that fact. I've noticed that they're getting kind of creative with these, you know, kind of email addresses. It'll say in the first part of the email address, it'll say usps.gov or something to that effect, that looks official, but then if you continue reading @gmail.com or something like that, you know, so it, it looks very real. If you're not paying attention closely.
Karla Kirby:
They're getting better.
Eric Shen:
Absolutely.
Jonathan Castillo:
Eric, so, you know, other than your credit card number, are there any other types of information that these scammers are looking for when they're, you know, giving you these links?
Eric Shen:
Absolutely. They, they're really looking for your personal information, such as account usernames and passwords, your social security number, dates of birth. They can use this information to combine it with your credit card and debit card numbers to carry out other crimes such as financial fraud.
Karla Kirby:
So it's scary to think that a small amount of personal information can be used to create such big problems for people being scammed. I do know that the Postal Service offers free tools to track specific packages. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Eric Shen:
Absolutely. Customers can use the Postal Services website to check on packages as long as they first create an account. USPS does not charge for these services. From there, you can check on your packages using a tracking number. If you receive texts supposedly from USPS that send you links and ask you for additional information, be sure to block that sender, forward that message to the Postal Service, either @spamatusps.gov for emails, or you can forward scam texts to 7726. After that, immediately delete the email or text. And I really want you to let the consumers know that USPS is most likely not going to send you an unsolicited email or text unless you've signed up for alerts on specific shipments.
Jonathan Castillo:
I'm thinking another great tool might be informed delivery, right?
Karla Kirby:
That's what I was thinking. Mm-Hmm.
Jonathan Castillo:
Eric Shen:
Well, we take these cases very seriously. Last year we arrested over 1,600 mile thieves. Thieves commonly cruise neighborhoods at times when people are at work, but can strike any time. And there are some steps that we always message to the public to protect themselves. Don't leave letters and packages in your mailbox or at your door for any length of time. And use USPS hold mail service, a delivery locker, or ask a trusted neighbor to grab your package. If you're going to be away, mail your letters and packages at the Post Office, or use a secure receptacle near where you work. If you're mailing from your home, be sure to hand your outgoing mail to your letter carrier. Request signature confirmation on packages and add package tracking. And don't send cash. If you move, file change of address with USPS @www.usps.com, and let your financial institutions know as soon as possible. If you suspect you may be a victim of mail theft, or if you actually have video of someone stealing mail, report it at www.uspis.gov/report or call postal inspectors at (877) 876-2455.
Karla Kirby:
So, out of curiosity, you said you arrested about 1600 mail thieves. What is the sentence for mail theft?
Eric Shen:
It varies depending on criminal history additional charges that are brought to them you know, when it comes to male theft, male thieves are doing it to, for financial gain. So there's additional charges like identity theft, bank fraud access, device fraud, which is kind of like credit card fraud. So it can vary if you don't have criminal history. In my experience, you've seen some of these folks get about two or three years federal prison which is not bad. But I've had cases where they've served 12 years federal prison based on their criminal history, losses the amount of victims they victimized, and other charges that they've that were brought against them. So it does vary. One thing that's great is when we do sentence them federally, they have to serve 80% of their time.
Jonathan Castillo:
You know, you see on social media and online these videos of people coming up and stealing them from the porch. Is that helpful? You know, when you're, when you're looking for, you know, these cases of package theft, does something like that help?
Eric Shen:
Absolutely. you know, any, any type of video surveillance we really encourage to share with your local law enforcement or with us, if it's the case that we're working is just additional leads, additional investigative steps and tools that we can gather for, to build our case up and identify the perpetrators.
Karla Kirby:
So the last area we wanna talk about is also very serious, which is employee safety. It's a top priority for the Inspection Service and why we launched Project Safe Delivery last year. It's also an especially important topic this time of year. Eric, how does this fit into the overall holiday campaign?
Eric Shen:
Well, the Inspection Service is raising awareness of risks to our city and rural carriers at a time when they're extremely busy helping customers prepare for the holidays. More than 200,000 letter carriers will be making the deliveries to over 150 million addresses, including to many of the people listening to this podcast. All those extra packages and cars create a lot of temptation for thieves.
Jonathan Castillo:
This is definitely a big problem especially around the holidays when our carriers are so busy. But tell us more about the problem in general. Are you seeing an increase in crimes against our employees while they're out there delivering?
Eric Shen:
Yes, unfortunately, you know, I think with the trend in crime in general has gone up quite a bit, but specifically to our letter carriers, between fiscal 2019 and 2022, there was a 543% increase in letter carrier robberies. Thieves are looking for the keys that carriers used to unlock mailboxes, lockers, and other secure mail repositories. Back in the old days, I would say our carriers were being robbed for more personal items, such as cell phones credit cards, cash jewelry. Now about over 80% of the robberies that have occurred in the past year have been for mail theft. Mail theft then translates to financial crimes check fraud and it's their means of making money. The Inspection Service is turning things around though with Project Safe Delivery. As a big part of that last year alone, we made over 500 arrests for assaults and robberies of postal employees and some of the successful investigations or operations.
I can kind of give you guys some examples of is our city surges, where we surge Inspection Service personnel into a city to really work with local federal law enforcement and enforcement actions, but also preventive actions. We go into Post Offices, speak to the carriers, ensure that they know the steps to take if they are confronted by someone that is gonna rob them. In addition to enforcement actions and prevention actions, we've also done some key accountability for arrow keys in Post Offices. Some of the other enforcement numbers that I can share is just the amount of arrests that we've made during these surge operations. A total of 10 surge operations this last year alone, where it amounted to over 15 to 20 arrests of suspects that have been involved in carrier robberies or mail theft.
Jonathan Castillo:
Where have you carried out these surges that you're talking about?
Eric Shen:
We have gone to Los Angeles, San Francisco Columbus, Ohio Chicago, New York, and we've really targeted those big, big cities, but we've also gone to cities surrounding the big cities as well.
Karla Kirby:
So how many laws are in place to protect mail carriers?
Eric Shen:
Well, this is something I learned. When I first became an inspector, I didn't realize the amount of laws that we enforce, which are over 200, and they are designed to protect our employees as well as a nation's mail stream.
Karla Kirby:
So when we talk about, you know, this type of crime, meaning robbing a carrier, we talked about what the sentence could potentially be for somebody just taking the mail. But when we talk about robbing a carrier, what type of sentence would that carry?
Eric Shen:
Well, again, it, it depends on how it occurs. If there's a weapon involved if the carrier's actually assaulted physically those will increase jail time, of course. And again, there, you know, as a Postal Inspection Service, something I learned that we enforce over 200 laws right to design that are designed to protect our employees. In those laws, there are charges and statutes that would help us protect the employee when it comes to charging these suspects of assaulting, robbing a carrier. So we have seen sentences upwards to 10 of 15 years in federal prison.
Karla Kirby:
So I think I heard about a case where somebody got 35 years.
Eric Shen:
Yes. earlier this year, Maryland resident was sentenced to 35 years after being convicted of robbing a letter carrier and stealing the carrier's keys found guilty by a jury for armed robbery conspiracy to commit armed robbery use of firearm in the commission of a crime of violence and theft. In another case, an Alabama man was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison for robbing a male carrier at gunpoint. A third example, a Cincinnati resident was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for the armed robbery of a postal carrier. The convicted is one of more than a dozen defendants charged in the Southern District of Ohio since 2022, with crimes related postal robberies. And some additional information I can share: In 2023, a South Carolina man was sentenced to life after shooting and killing a letter carrier while on her route, this person then drove off in her vehicle and later searched the vehicle for a package intended for his residence. So this is why I'm here today to really encourage people to keep an eye out for their carriers and report any suspicious activity to their local police, as well as the postal Inspection Service.
Karla Kirby:
So when we talk about some of these sentences, seven years, 11 years, 35 years, are these like solo criminals or, you know, groups of people? What are you seeing in your experience?
Eric Shen:
No. The trend now is more networks. It is a large group of individuals that are working together to commit these crimes. So you have people that are robbing the carriers of the keys, and then the keys then are handed off to someone else to steal the mail. And once the mail is stolen, someone else then utilizes the checks the information there to conduct financial fraud.
Karla Kirby:
So these are like criminal enterprises?
Eric Shen:
Absolutely. Yes.
Jonathan Castillo:
And one last time, Eric, where can someone go if they do witness a crime or have any information? They saw something like this?
Eric Shen:
Again, to report a crime you know, usps.gov is the best place to go. But if it's a critical incident where they're seeing it occurring, first thing we always tell everyone is call 911. You know, and if it's involving a postal employee, it will get routed to the Inspection Service and we'll respond accordingly. But if you're seeing your carrier being attacked you know, don't try to intervene 'cause you want to be safe as well. I really encourage people just to call 911 report the incident.
Jonathan Castillo:
Any other last words for our listeners for the holidays?
Eric Shen:
Just wish everyone a happy and safe holiday. And I, again, I thank you both for having me here today.
Jonathan Castillo:
It's great to have you.
Karla Kirby:
Yeah, thanks for coming back. We will absolutely talk to you when the next campaign comes out.
Jonathan Castillo:
Absolutely. Can't wait.
Eric Shen:
Thank you.
Karla Kirby:
So we will transition now to another installment of, Did You Know. That's when Jonathan and I share interesting US Postal Service facts. Jonathan, why don't you get us started?
Jonathan Castillo:
Gladly. We've talked about Benjamin Franklin a lot on this podcast with good reason. He was the first US postmaster general. He helped establish more efficient postal routes, and he even created the dead letter office for unclaimed messages. He was also a famous inventor. Of course, he's known for inventing a lot of things still used today, including bifocal eyeglass lenses and his experiments with electricity are legendary. But did you know some scientists and tech companies are currently developing more efficient electric motors based on technology Franklin helped design in the late 1740s?
Karla Kirby:
Jonathan, I definitely didn't know that, but clearly that was before electricity was readily available, wasn't it?
Jonathan Castillo:
It was, and that's the cool thing. Franklin developed a type of electrostatic motor. It didn't rely on electricity like the kind we get from a wall outlet. It was a complicated gadget, but at a very basic level it used electrical charges to spin a wheel. Today's electrostatic motors use many of the same concepts Franklin used. Of course, they also take advantage of modern touches like printed circuit boards. These types of motors are important because they've been shown to operate up to 80% more efficiently than other types of motors. Some companies have high hopes that electrostatic motors can more sustainably power wind turbines, and cool data centers to name a few uses.
Karla Kirby:
Well, it's pretty incredible that technology that Ben Franklin worked on more than 275 years ago has such a bright future. For my Did You Know, I also want to talk about postal history, although not all the way back to colonial times. I'll start with a reminder of the recent past. Just a couple of years ago, the Postal Service took on the big responsibility of helping the government deliver free COVID-19 test kits to any US household that wanted them. But did you know the Postal Service has a long history of disseminating health related information, distributing vaccines, medicines, and medical devices, along with facilitating medical testing and research?
Jonathan Castillo:
Really? So the COVID-19 test kits weren't the Postal Services first public health initiative.
Karla Kirby:
It might be the biggest considering we've delivered more than 900 million test kits to date. But there have been some other programs. Smallpox, for example, was a huge problem for the US in its early history when a vaccine was finally developed. President James Madison in 1813 signed a law that created a national vaccine agency to make the vaccine widely available. The law also required the free delivery of mail weighing up to one half ounce if it contains smallpox vaccine material. So over the years, the Postal Service has played a bunch of other public health roles that includes fumigating mail during a yellow fever outbreak in the South in 1879, distributing health related information during the Spanish flu epidemic following World War I and introducing technology to a radiate mail during the 2001 Anthrax scare.
Jonathan Castillo:
As tragic as all those events were, I'm glad to hear that the Postal Service did what it could to help out.
Karla Kirby:
So how about some of those sentences? People gotta keep those porch cams on.
Jonathan Castillo:
We all know that the holidays are this time of joy and cheer, and sometimes the last thing on our mind is, you know, getting scammed. But as we learn today, you know, we gotta be on the lookout, like you said, have these home surveillance systems that can help out because these fraudsters, they're, they're really trying to let you know, play the real life Grinch here.
Karla Kirby:
Right? And I would also reinforce for our listeners, the Post Office does not text you about package delivery unless you specifically sign up for it. So do not click on the links. Stay away from those.
Jonathan Castillo:
And that wraps up this episode of Mailing It. Don't forget to subscribe to mailing it wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you don't miss the next episode. And follow along on Instagram @USPostalService, X, formerly known as Twitter @usps and on Facebook.