Investigative Case Highlights

Imagine someone starts a job and less than two months later jumps on a gravy train to ride out a supposed ankle injury on the Postal Service's dime. That’s what one Postal Service employee in Ohio did recently, and it’s one of the reasons the USPS OIG’s work to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse is as vital as ever. A woman joined the Postal Service in June 2020 as a tractor trailer operator, and 54 days later filed a traumatic injury claim with the Department of Labor Office of Workers’

It began with an unintended discovery: A man in southern California filed an indemnity claim with the Postal Service after he sent a Priority Mail parcel that was never delivered. He declared, by mistake, the value lost was $100 when it was actually $5. When the Postal Service reimbursed him without question, a lightbulb went off in his head and thus ensued a $2.3 million indemnity fraud scheme. The Postal Service didn’t detect the fraud — how was it our special agents cracked the case?

A postmaster at a post office in Connecticut is serving a four-year prison sentence after he defrauded the Postal Service of over $930,000. The scheme started in 2022, when the postmaster approached a local repair shop manager hinting about potential bribe payments in exchange for a large increase in vehicle repair work. The manager for the USPS vendor accepted and the postmaster started bringing in significant towing and repair business while the vendor falsely raised the expense amounts.

By focusing on investigating Postal Service employees who collude with drug trafficking organizations, most of our investigations target larger, multi-state operations. But as for keeping drugs out of America’s mail, no narcotics investigation is too small.

If you’re into luxury goods, you probably take the trouble to make sure the items you buy aren’t stolen or counterfeit — most retail websites have disclaimers to that effect to give prospective buyers more confidence. Barring theft or dubious origins, how would you feel if the items you bought were acquired with stolen funds?