Posted on 10/04/2022 8:17:36 AM PDT by Red Badger
Three U.S. Postal Service employees have been arrested in connection with a $1.3 million fraud and identity theft scheme in which they allegedly used stolen credit cards to purchase luxury items.
According to a release from the Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. Postal workers Nathanael Foucault, Johnathan Persaud, and Fabiola Mompoint were arrested Thursday in New York alongside a fourth individual, Devon Richards, who is not a postal worker.
Prosecutors said that the scheme began in or around December 2018 and continued up until recently and saw members of the scheme work with U.S. Postal Service mail carriers, including, among others, Mompoint, Foucault, and Persaud to steal credit cards from the mail before the cards were delivered to the actual card holder.
Once getting their hands on the stolen cards, members of the scheme were allegedly able to activate them using the stolen personal information of the actual card owner, according to prosecutors.
After the cards had been activated, members of the scheme then allegedly used the stolen cards to purchase luxury goods, including high-end designer items from stores such as Chanel, Fendi, Hermes, and Dior, as well as at major department stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey, among other places.
They are then said to have sold the fraudulently obtained luxury merchandise on the website LuxurySnob.com, according to prosecutors.
‘The Conduct Alleged Is Disgraceful’ “LuxurySnob purports to be an ‘online consignment and personal shopping company’ specializing in ‘pre-owned luxury items,’ but, in fact, many of the items it sells were purchased using stolen credit cards,” prosecutors said.
Five other individuals who were allegedly involved in the fraud and identity theft scheme still remain at large, the DOJ said. They face charges including conspiracy to commit access device fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft charges.
Each faces lengthy prison sentences ranging from two to 30 years if found guilty.
USPIS Inspector-in-Charge Daniel B. Brubaker said the defendants had “sought to enrich themselves by stealing mail directly from hundreds of postal customers.”
“They further compounded their crimes by committing identity theft against those customers to facilitate their elaborate scheme to defraud several national financial institutions,” Brubaker added.
USPS-OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Modafferi said: “The Special Agents of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General will continue to maintain the integrity of the U.S. Postal Service and its personnel. The conduct alleged is disgraceful, and our office will continue to vigorously investigate postal service employees and their co-conspirators who violate the public’s trust.”
The U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General’s website states that it conducted 1,472 mail theft investigations between October 2020 through September 2021, resulting in 453 arrests, and the recovery of more than $162,000 in funds.
The Epoch Times has contacted the U.S. Postal Service for comment.
See? They said they wanted to improve efficiency. Workers stealing directly from the customers is quite efficient.
“steal credit cards from the mail before the cards were delivered to the actual card holder.”
Wonder if this is the reason I had to cancel Crapitol One?
They ought to deliver new credit cards by UPS or FedEx.
They would at least get a higher class of crooks....................
It would be interesting to see the demographics of those arrested and committing the crimes. I remember a postal employee telling me that in Philadelphia they had to quit mailing the minted money from the post office there because there was so much theft that the commodes were stopped up from them trying to flush the paper down them. The theft was primarily the Amish.
It took only FOUR YEARS to figure there was problem. Quazi government employees at their finest.
Helllo Newman!!!
Seems pretty easy once they get the card. Just activate it by calling the telephone number on the card and entering the 16 digit card number and Voila! The delivery envelope lets them now a credit card is inside. I’m surprised that a better way to send customers their cards has been figured out.
Seems pretty easy once they get the card. Just activate it by calling the telephone number on the card and entering the 16 digit card number and Voila! The delivery envelope lets them know a credit card is inside. I’m surprised that a better way to send customers their cards has been figured out.
Haitians, judging by their French surnames.
At least the mail in ballots are safe huh Moe.
Rest assured, citizen, that postal employees have far to much integrity to takes bribes to trash ballots.
The Amish were the victims or the perpetrators? Please be more specific.
It doesn't work that way unless the fraudsters can spoof the victims telephone number or have hacked their account.
I have one card, and the call has to be made from my own verified phone number.
But the USPS successfully delivered millions of biden ballots.
Neither rain, nor sleet , nor dead voters..................
Some years ago my buddy takes a call in the squad room from a teller at his bank. She alerts him that someone tried to negotiate his pay check. (got paid by check in those days and he was friends with the teller). He goes over to the postal inspection service across the street and they head out to his bank. The inspector shows the photo of the local postal delivery guy to the teller and she IDs him. So, they stake out his car on the property. He returns a few hours later and gets caught with a car full of purloined mail plus my buddy’s pay check. Off to the clink. My buddy said it was the easiest scratch he made!
Wanna stop this crap? Hang ‘em high… on tv.
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