PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Zumar Dubose, 35, of Atlantic City, NJ, and Abdush Dubose, 37, of Boynton Beach, FL, were sentenced by United States District Judge Wendy Beetlestone, in connection with their scheme to defraud and obtain money from the United States Postal Service, UPS, and Citizens Bank.
Zumar Dubose was sentenced on Friday, March 15, 2024, to 125 months’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and restitution of $281,223.
Abdush Dubose was sentenced on Thursday, March 14, 2024, to 57 months’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and restitution of 281,223.
Their brother and codefendant Kariem Dubose, 42, of Philadelphia, PA, was sentenced on February 15, 2024, to 24 months’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and restitution of $47,813.09.
In May 2023, a federal jury convicted Zumar and Abdush Dubose on mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering conspiracy charges related to their fraud scheme, with Kariem Dubose convicted on mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud charges.
Starting as early as October 2018, over the course of approximately 1.5 years, the defendants submitted over 1,200 fraudulent insured-parcel claims with the United States Postal Service and UPS and received almost $300,000 in ill-gotten gains. As part of the scheme, the Dubose brothers sent parcels to themselves containing items of no value, using insured U.S. Postal Service postage and UPS tracking labels. Their parcels often included worthless items like sand, cardboard, paper, and cheap plastic headphones. They then filed fraudulent claims with the U.S. Postal Service and UPS, claiming that these parcels contained valuable items such brand name headphones, designer sunglasses and clothing, and other electronic items. They claimed that these valuable items were lost or damaged in transit and attached sham proofs of value.
The defendants used numerous emails, addresses, postboxes, bank accounts and bank cards, fake individual names, and fictitious corporations, including “Urmajesty Banktruckfit Solutions,” “Miworld Three Incorporated,” and “4 Entertainment Corporation,” which were incorporated in the State of New Jersey, and “Seeds of Beauty Incorporated,” which was incorporated in the State of Florida. The U.S. Postal Service and UPS then issued claim checks to cover the defendants’ alleged losses, and the defendants deposited those checks into Citizens Bank accounts opened in the names of their fake companies. The defendants made these deposits through ATMs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.
When the U.S. Postal Service and UPS refused to issue or deliver some of the fraudulently obtained claim checks, and when Citizens Bank placed a hold on a bank account that was used to deposit the fraud proceeds, the Dubose brothers were undeterred. Using fake names, the brothers repeatedly sought recoveries from the U.S. Postal Service and UPS. They even filed lawsuits against UPS in various counties in New Jersey, using fake plaintiff names and falsely claiming that UPS did not pay them funds that they were owed. The defendants also filed lawsuits against Citizens Bank, again using false identities, in an effort to obtain the funds from their fraud scheme.
“The Dubose brothers made their fraud a family affair,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “They took advantage of the U.S. Postal Service and UPS policies intended to make customers with legitimate losses whole, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars they weren’t entitled to in the process. We and our partners are committed to shutting down flagrant fraud schemes like this and holding the perpetrators accountable.”
“I want to thank the United States Attorney’s Office for the work and support they put into in convicting and sentencing the Dubose brothers,” said Christopher Nielsen, the Inspector in Charge of the Philadelphia Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “The two brothers each received significant sentences as a result of their efforts to steal from the United States Postal Service and the United Parcel Service. These two individuals defrauded the Postal Service’s shipping insurance service by claiming shipping losses they never incurred. Together with our partners at the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General, Postal Inspectors unraveled an elaborate scheme that resulted in almost $300,000 in losses to the Postal Service and UPS.”
“The USPS OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously investigate these indemnity fraud cases. Hopefully the sentences handed down will be a deterrent to those who might attempt to defraud the USPS by filing false claims,” said Jeffrey Krafels, Executive Special Agent in Charge, USPS OIG Mid-Atlantic Area Field Office.
The case was investigated by the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General and the United States Postal Inspection Service and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Louis D. Lappen and J. Jeanette Kang. UPS and Citizens Bank provided crucial cooperation in the investigation.