Notifying Postal Inspectors- Does It Work??

ooitzoo

ooitzoo

Gold Member
Feedback: +369 / =0 / -0
Joined
Oct 2, 2010
Messages
8,082
This is interesting.

In any case, it is well understood that the mods can only do so much and going the postal inspector route is the logical escalation point but has anyone actually done this? How does it work? And has anymore had success? I don't mean in this particular case (cburger) but in general.

I understand that this may require its own thread and I am happy to start one if that helps.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ooitzoo said:
In any case, it is well understood that the mods can only do so much and going the postal inspector route is the logical escalation point but has anyone actually done this? How does it work? And has anymore had success? I don't mean in this particular case (cburger) but in general.
Click to expand...

If you feel that there is a clear case for mail fraud, you file a complaint with your local law enforcement and then submit your info to the postal inspectors here: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/mlntrcvd.aspx#
The Postal Inspection Service will then investigate your case and if mail fraud is found, the offending party may be arrested, fined, imprisoned or all of the above. (If people followed thru with this more, people like "Blade Bandits" would get shut down faster).

.....and Yes, In my time here I have seen several members take this route and achieve success.
Some get their product back. Some get monetarily compensated and some only get the satisfaction of knowing they put a thief where he belongs. Each case may be different. In some cases One may have to also persue the offender in small claims/civil court.
In my own experience...... there was a "Christmas Everest Katana" (Silver/jeweled scabbard with handle carving...$1000+) that was apparently ordered by an individual using a stolen credit card. Proper authorities notified and all information were sent as soon as we were notified. Nearly 4 months later we were very happy to hear that the thief was in jail and that we would receive the Katana back as soon as it was released from evidence. Luckily that beautiful blade returned to us still in perfect condition.

As this does probably merit it's own discussion. I will copy our posts to their own thread.
 
That's interesting. Do you have some links?

It seems there has been an uptick in "bad" threads lately. That's not to say that there are a lot. Out of those, it'd be interesting to know how many got to the postal inspector stage. From what I've read, most disputes end at either the "start a thread" or "involve mod" stages. Obviously, one can't know how many are settled privately.
 
It works. I had someone in Miami rip me off on eBay before they had their buyer protection plan. The postal inspectors got him. I received a money order from the thief and a legal brief from the inspector's describing their case against him. Took awhile but the did a great job. :thumbup:
 
The Postal inspector will do a good job of fining out what happened but It does take time a few weeks at least. I sent some stuff to a guy in France he complained he never got it, paypal refunded him, then about a week later the postal inspector report came in and said "yes he did get his package" paypal told me, "that's great go ask him for your money back"

If it happened in the US you are in much better shape, but may have to file criminal charges to get anything really going. Once that package or your money leaves your hands it's really just trust from then on and not much else can guarantee that.
 
TechExec said:
It works. I had someone in Miami rip me off on eBay before they had their buyer protection plan. The postal inspectors got him. I received a money order from the thief and a legal brief from the inspector's describing their case against him. Took awhile but the did a great job. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

How long between filing your report with the Postal Inspectors and hearing anything back from them?
I am at 4 months without a peep.
 
FLymon said:
How long between filing your report with the Postal Inspectors and hearing anything back from them?
I am at 4 months without a peep.
Click to expand...

I wish I could be specific for you FLymon but it was years ago. My recollection is it took close to a year. I had forgotten about it by the time I received the money order...and that arrived just before the postal inspector's correspondence. They were going after this guy for scamming a bunch of people so maybe their investigation was complicated. I hope yours is resolved faster.
 
Last edited:
TechExec said:
I wish I could be specific for you FLymon but it was years ago. My recollection is it took close to a year. I had forgotten about it by the time I received the money order...and that arrived just before the postal inspector's correspondence. They were going after this guy for scamming a bunch of people so maybe their investigation was complicated. I hope yours is resolved faster.
Click to expand...

So there may be hope yet.
Thanks!
 
SpookStrickland said:
The Postal inspector will do a good job of fining out what happened but It does take time a few weeks at least. I sent some stuff to a guy in France he complained he never got it, paypal refunded him, then about a week later the postal inspector report came in and said "yes he did get his package" paypal told me, "that's great go ask him for your money back"

If it happened in the US you are in much better shape, but may have to file criminal charges to get anything really going. Once that package or your money leaves your hands it's really just trust from then on and not much else can guarantee that.
Click to expand...


Out of curiosity what was the persons name in France? That situation seems eerily similar to mine.
 
Karda said:
If you feel that there is a clear case for mail fraud, you file a complaint with your local law enforcement and then submit your info to the postal inspectors here: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/mlntrcvd.aspx#
The Postal Inspection Service will then investigate your case and if mail fraud is found, the offending party may be arrested, fined, imprisoned or all of the above. (If people followed thru with this more, people like "Blade Bandits" would get shut down faster).

.....and Yes, In my time here I have seen several members take this route and achieve success.
Some get their product back. Some get monetarily compensated and some only get the satisfaction of knowing they put a thief where he belongs. Each case may be different. In some cases One may have to also persue the offender in small claims/civil court.
In my own experience...... there was a "Christmas Everest Katana" (Silver/jeweled scabbard with handle carving...$1000+) that was apparently ordered by an individual using a stolen credit card. Proper authorities notified and all information were sent as soon as we were notified. Nearly 4 months later we were very happy to hear that the thief was in jail and that we would receive the Katana back as soon as it was released from evidence. Luckily that beautiful blade returned to us still in perfect condition.

As this does probably merit it's own discussion. I will copy our posts to their own thread.
Click to expand...

Excellent information. Thank you kindly.

In this neck of the woods the Postal Inspection Service was involved with investigating the, still missing, child disappearance case of Kyron Horman. With diminishing resources at the USPS it must be a challenge for it to prioritize how it spends its man hours. It is good to know that they appear to be able to do it all. They go after poison letters, bombers and widget frauds.
 
Thanks for info , I have similar case right now . Looks like one guy in Russia wants a free Microtech knife . Not sure if this will work with Russia but I will try.
Thanks a lot.
 
HUGE waste of time Gott ripped off by a guy in here thats NOW Banned The Postal Police is a HUGE waste of Govt $$ and your time making a claim ...Follow the rules Sub,itted stuff got a little card in the mail...3 years later NOTHING........
 
It is interesting to read the replies. Seems like it work (loosely speaking) but generally takes a while. I wonder if you need to one of many (e.g. with respect to the number of people ripped off.) Also, what happens if the inspector finds nothing? Do they let you know?
 
GIZMOMAN said:
HUGE waste of time Gott ripped off by a guy in here thats NOW Banned The Postal Police is a HUGE waste of Govt $$ and your time making a claim ...Follow the rules Sub,itted stuff got a little card in the mail...3 years later NOTHING........
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me,but at least another scammer got banned.
 
GIZMOMAN said:
HUGE waste of time Gott ripped off by a guy in here thats NOW Banned The Postal Police is a HUGE waste of Govt $$ and your time making a claim ...Follow the rules Sub,itted stuff got a little card in the mail...3 years later NOTHING........
Click to expand...

Give me a break.

Postal Police are not Postal Inspectors. Police are just lobby guards. Inspectors are very good at what they do but with no more information than you've given, I don't know if they had enough to go on or the thief just managed to run off.

I saw Inspectors pull off operations it would take John le Carre to do justice to.

Neither is a waste of government money since the Postal Service pays its own bills. It hasn't been Federally funded for decades.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Give me a break.

Postal Police are not Postal Inspectors. Police are just lobby guards. Inspectors are very good at what they do but with no more information than you've given, I don't know if they had enough to go on or the thief just managed to run off.

I saw Inspectors pull off operations it would take John le Carre to do justice to.

Neither is a waste of government money since the Postal Service pays its own bills. It hasn't been Federally funded for decades.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with this sentiment.

In your experience, how frequently were thieves caught by the postal inspectors? Was it typically as a result of repeated activity or did folks get caught after one offense?
 
I had an inspector tell me the reason they get caught is they don't know when to stop.

We had a supervisor who was stealing from the mail. Really not smart. They saw him do it, the cameras in the galleries overhead recorded him, they took him to his locker, it was all there. He didn't have the sense to remove the evidence.

A customer called me one day because mail was disappearing from his locked mail box. He asked the carrier if he remembered delivering certain distinctive envelopes and he had, but they weren't in the box when the man got home. I called the Inspectors who told me they had good news, they had just picked up the thief. He called the customer back and explained the story, then I did. The man was as amazed as I was -- solving a crime when we just reported it is pretty impressive.

Here's the deal. The mailboxes used a type of small lock sold by hardware stores. Each is different, of course -- except there were only a limited number of different. So the ring of thieves bought a few dozen locks, determined the 8 key patterns, and followed the carriers down the streets. As carriers would leave a building, they would go in and check for interesting mail in a few boxes, then move on to another building.

A woman noticed a stranger going into buildings on her block right after the carrier left, called the Inspectors, and the game was up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top