BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A former U.S. Postal employee has been convicted at trial for his role in supplying stolen checks to a scam Telegram channel called “The Lucky Shop,” announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and FBI Special Agent in Charge Carlton L. Peeples, U.S. Postal Inspection Service Inspector-in-Charge Mona Hernandez, Houston Division, and United States Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Patrick Davis.
The jury returned a guilty verdict against Michael Christopher Rowser, 24, of Birmingham, after three days of testimony before U.S. District Court Judge Madeline H. Haikala. Rowser was convicted of conspiracy to receive bribes and conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud.
According to evidence presented at trial, “The Lucky Shop” was a scam Telegram channel dedicated to the sale of stolen checks and bank login information. It operated as a criminal marketplace. Administrators of “The Lucky Shop” would obtain stolen checks from corrupt postal employees like the defendant, and then post redacted copies of those checks on the channel to market them for sale. When customers of “The Lucky Shop” paid the channel’s administrators to purchase stolen checks, a portion of their profits would be kicked back to the defendant. The evidence established that Rowser, a mail handler at the U.S. Postal Service’s Processing & Distribution Center in Birmingham, received approximately $106,000 in bribe payments over the course of a year for his role supplying checks to “The Lucky Shop.”
Rowser is scheduled to be sentenced on April 7, 2025.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Secret Service investigated the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward J. Canter and Daniel S. McBrayer.
