Postal Inspector Gives Shock Response When Palmer Asks If 'International Group's Steal USPS Mail

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Oversight Committee hearing in July, Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) asked Postal Inspector General Brendan Donahue if "international groups" steal USPS mail.

Transcript

00:00gentleman yields back his time distinguished gentleman the young chairman mr palmer

00:07thank you mr chairman um we've seen a spike in in mail theft and postal related crime

00:15is there a particular reason why we're seeing that mr donahue i believe so there are there

00:24are a number of reasons first uh as referred to my oral testimony then also my written testimony

00:29we have seen a shift from criminal activity from what would be considered high risk high reward

00:36crimes such as drug trafficking to those uh those organizations engaging in low risk uh high reward

00:43financial crimes and and that is really what motivates individuals to commit mail theft they

00:49are seeking to steal the mail to perpetrate financial crimes that has driven activity also

00:53uh online uh forms and marketplaces where whether it's stolen checks postal keys can be easily sold

01:02and also the use of encrypted messaging that makes it more difficult for law enforcement to be able to

01:07intercept those communications and to be able to conduct its investigations all of those things

01:13i believe have helped to add to this atmosphere where criminals believe it's permissive uh to to

01:21commit these crimes and i think also there's a significant issue when it comes to deterrence

01:27and being able to deter these again in my oral written testimony i spoke to some of the the prosecutorial

01:34challenges we have but then also some of the challenges that we have with sentencing let me ask yes

01:39sir i want to go a little bit deeper into this little different direction so based on your your answer there

01:46uh are they seeking to get personal identification information from the mail and if they're doing

01:53that are are they uh transferring that selling that information to international organizations

02:00i mean is that where we're seeing the uptick so i believe the uptick is what i mentioned before

02:07specific to the theft of financial instruments but certainly we see the theft of mail to perpetrate

02:13identity theft the theft of personal identifying information you see international groups involved

02:18in that we certainly do see international groups in in a lot of investigations that we conduct both

02:24involving mail theft financial crimes and and others we saw during the covid pandemic

02:30uh an an enormous amount of theft in regard to unemployment uh bonus uh compensation and and other

02:39compensation uh and a lot of that was perpetrated by international groups some of it was perpetrated

02:45within the united states by different groups and they were using the mail for instance where states

02:50send out debit cards is that part of have we seen um uh has that continued going forward that type of

02:58criminal activity so we certainly can answer yeah so we certainly have seen as you noted during the

03:04pandemic uh where criminal organizations both domestically and overseas perpetrated mass pandemic

03:10fraud taking advantage of the large amount of money that was made available um and also some of the

03:15looser restrictions on obtaining those funds and then in some cases stealing checks or uh prepaid

03:22debit cards or other payment mechanisms that were in the mail to perpetrate these crimes where do most of

03:28these crimes occur do they occur at the individual's post office box at the street or i think uh theft at

03:34collection boxes has gone down quite a bit are they uh interdicting the the postal delivery officer

03:43and route where do most of the thefts occur so if it involves uh the postal service in terms of that

03:50financial crime a theft of pii personal identifying information or financial instrument that can occur

03:56anywhere uh along the the process uh in which mail is being uh sent or received and so in some cases

04:03that is at the street level um and when it's at the collection box in some cases it's when it's at a

04:08person's mailbox at their house that's unsecured in other cases uh unfortunately there are a very small

04:14number of individuals that work for the postal service who commit crime and take advantage of their

04:20position and steal mail from there which mr rossine spoke to earlier so we see

04:26all along the process where there is potential for theft what what should people be doing to

04:34secure their personal identification information against mail theft so there are a number of things

04:40that individuals can do to secure their personal identifying information against mail theft first

04:47suggest that individuals when they receive their mail that they pick it up as soon as possible when

04:52it's delivered to their mailbox we encourage customers to sign up for informed delivery that

04:56gives them a preview of mail that's coming to their house so they can identify what mail is going to

05:02come to their house and they can be on the lookout for it and get it we also encourage individuals

05:08if they're going to send mail to mail in the most secure way possible they can bring it into the post

05:13office they can hand it to their letter carrier who will take it from them or if they work at a place of

05:18business they can have it picked up there those are just some of the tips that we provide to the public on

05:24how to safely and securely send their mail with your permission mr chairman one last question do you

05:31provide that information uh online or how would you get that information to to uh your the customers of

05:40the u.s postal office thank you so we do provide it in a number of ways in some cases online in some cases

05:46uh the prevention material that i showed before that we worked on with american bankers association

05:51which is made available through them and all other financial institutions in some cases we share it

05:57with the public uh through uh community forums through presentations uh in some cases uh coming on to

06:05members of the house and their town halls that they have with their constituents where we're more than

06:11happy to participate and share that information social media again there are a number of ways that we share

06:16that information thank you uh i thank the witnesses thank chairman for his indulgence and i yield back

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