They say opportunities can entice someone to become a thief. For postal employees, such opportunities often come from those outside the Postal Service. They bait employees with promises of quick, easy cash, assuring them it’s all minimal risk. But two separate investigations in New York State illustrate how much postal employees stand to lose if they conspire to steal from the U.S. Mail.
One such mail theft scheme that was corrupt to its core involved U.S. Treasury checks: Someone outside the Postal Service filed fraudulent claims for Economic Impact Payments to the U.S. Treasury during the COVID-19 pandemic. That person then roped in a city carrier, who would intercept the checks in the mailstream and turn them over to him in exchange for payment.
The carrier was brazen — our special agents observed him at the post office hand-picking dozens of envelopes from the Treasury at a time, piling them together, and then taking out his calculator to add up the spoils (each stimulus check was worth $1,400). But the clock was about to run out on the operation
