The United States Postal Service has issued a warning about fake delivery messages.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service issued an alert warning consumers that fraudsters are now sending bogus emails and text messages pretending to be from USPS. The communications often contain a link that officials say is not safe to click. Unsuspecting consumers then click the link to confirm their personal information, which then activates a virus that steals information such as usernames, passwords, and financial account information.

Consumers should be mindful that the postal service does not send correspondence demanding personal information, nor does it notify people about unclaimed parcels.

To ensure that you do not fall victim to the scam, postal inspectors suggest that customers examine the messages closely for poor grammar and spelling errors, verify the sender’s identity, and make sure all security software on your devices is up to date.

Recipients of the fraudulent messaging may report it to spam@uspis.gov by forwarding the email or taking a screenshot of the text message.

A postal worker in Flint, Michigan, was brutally beaten by two women in an attack that was captured on video.

According to the New York Post, an onlooker claimed the women were trying to jump the mail carrier in an attempt to steal stimulus checks from her postal van.

But the US Postal Service’s law enforcement branch said there was “no indication” that the attack that took place at River Village Apartments in Flint had anything to do with stimulus checks.

The video shows the women brutally beating the mail carrier, yanking her by her hair, and throwing her to the ground.

While the USPS worker tries to fight back, one of the two women continues to scream, “You hit me first! You hit me first!”

Flint police told The Post on Friday that one of the women in the video have been arrested for her role in the attack, but the cops declined to identify the woman until after she was arraigned.

“We are investigating an assault incident that involved a United States postal worker,” Detective Sgt. Tyrone Booth stated. “An arrest was made and we’re seeking additional warrants for an additional arrest.”

The postal worker has recovered and is reportedly doing well after that attack.

The United States Postal Service recently put out a statement against Nike’s upcoming release of its Priority Mail inspired Air Force 1 Experimental.

“The Postal Service, which receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to fund its operations, protects its intellectual property,” the statement read. “Officially licensed products sold in the marketplace expand the affinity for the Postal Service brand and provide incremental revenue through royalties that directly support it. Sales of unauthorized and unlicensed products deny support to the hardworking women and men of the Postal Service.”

Although the official USPS logos were absent, the AF1 shoe’s design includes the signature red, white, and blue color scheme and a shipping label on the heel.

“This is an unfortunate situation where a large brand such as Nike, which aggressively protects its own intellectual property, has chosen to leverage another brand for its own gain,” the statement continued. “The Postal Service is disappointed in Nike’s response to repeated attempts to come to a solution. The Postal Service will take whatever actions it deems necessary to protect its valuable IP rights.”

The controversy between the USPS and Nike arrives on the heels of Nike’s lawsuit against Brooklyn-based company MSCHF over its Air Max 97 “Satan Shoes” over trademark infringement. MSCHF designed the controversial shoes in collaboration with Lil Nas X. A judge awarded the shoe giant a restraining order, even though the shoes had sold out after immediately being placed on sale.

Nike has not responded.

A Pennsylvania woman is speaking out after a post office lost her mother’s ashes for several weeks, forcing her to get the news involved.

Joanne DeGaetano of Bensalem reached out to NBC10 Responds after getting the Post Office runaround before they admitted that they could not locate her mother, Ruth’s, ashes. Ruth passed away in December from COVID-19 while in a New Jersey nursing home. According to DeGaetano, the remains were shipped by the United States Postal Service on December 28th and should have made it to her the following day.

“It was enough to lose my mom, but not to have her ashes. It’s a hard pill to swallow,” DeGaetano said. The woman tried to locate the ashes for weeks before contacting the news station. She had hoped to have her mother’s remains in mid-January to commemorate what would have been Ruth’s 90th birthday.

“Just all of a sudden, I went okay— something is not right— I should have had her long by now,” DeGaetano stated.

DeGaetano says she reached out to multiple post offices in North Jersey. The funeral director also tried to help by emailing the Post Office complaints department. No one knew where the remains were. Eventually, someone with the Post Office contacted her for the first time after NBC10 Responds got involved with the case. However, the representative did not provide any clues as to where the ashes were.

“At one point, what she said to me was that– it appears your mother’s package has gone into a black hole.”

NBC10 Responds continued to press the Post Office, though they still could not explain how they managed to lose the ashes.

After two weeks of relentless searching with the news station’s help, DeGaetano finally received a phone call from the Post Office saying that the ashes had been located and were on the way to her. She rushed home to meet the Bensalem Postmaster, who delivered the box to her home in his own car.

“We are very pleased that we were able to deliver the remains to the rightful owner and again sincerely apologize for the delay. Thanks again to all for your assistance,” a Post Office spokesperson said.

DeGaetano got emotional as she thanked NBC10 Responds for their relentless work on locating her mother’s remains.

“A lot of emotions today,” she said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Source 

According to The Inquirer, the judge’s order came after the agency revealed that more than 300,000 ballots nationwide could not be traced in the U.S. mail system.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of the District of Columbia had given the USPS until 3:30 p.m. to conduct the “all clear” checks to ensure there would be enough time to get any newly found ballots to election officials before polls closed yesterday.

Sullivan’s order affected 12 postal districts spanning 15 states and came after the agency disclosed that 300,523 ballots nationwide received scanned that indicated they had entered postal processing plants, but had not received exit scans, leaving voting rights advocates worried that hundreds of thousands of votes could be trapped in the mail system on the eve of this most crucial election.

In a filing sent to the court just before 5 p.m., Justice Department attorneys representing the Postal Service said the agency would not abide by the order to better accommodate inspector’s schedules.

“This daily review process, however, occurs at different times every day,” DOJ attorney John Robinson wrote. “Specifically, on Election Night, it is scheduled to occur from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., a time period developed by Postal Service Management and the Postal Inspection Service in order to ensure that Inspectors are on site to ensure compliance at the critical period before the polls close. Given the time constraints set by this Court’s order, and the fact that Postal Inspectors operate on a nationwide basis, Defendants were unable to accelerate the daily review process to run from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00pm without significantly disrupting preexisting activities on the day of the Election, something which Defendants did not understand the Court to invite or require.”

Sullivan ordered officials from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Postal Service Office of Inspector General to inspect all processing facilities in the districts of Central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Metro, Detroit, Colorado/Wyoming, Atlanta, Houston, Alabama, Northern New England (Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine), Greater South Carolina, South Florida, Lakeland (Wisconsin) and Arizona (which includes New Mexico) to be swept by 3 p.m.

According to VICE, the man in question, Sean Troesch, is suspected of discarding bags of mail for weeks and believing in the QAnon conspiracy.

Troesch previously posted multiple memes on Facebook about QAnon, “the disproven conspiracy theory about a massive secret pedophile ring and sex-trafficking enterprise organized by Hollywood elites and Democrats,” the report stated. An anonymous source shared screenshots of Troesch’s social media posts, which criticized the media for not looking into the QAnon claims, anti-mask memes, and accusations against celebrities for their roles in the false claims.

Sunday night, the agents arrived at Troesch home after responding to a tip about a man placing suspicious bags on the curb for pickup outside. When on the scene, eight bags of undelivered mail were recovered by the agents.

“USPS OIG Special Agents recovered several different classes of mail, including business mail, flats, and [a] small amount of first-class mail,” Special Agent Scott Balfour told CNN. “We expect to perform a piece count of the mail today, and make arrangements to have to mail delivered to customers as soon as feasible.”

Balfour stated that Troesch is currently on a non-duty and non-pay status.

“Once USPS OIG special agents conclude their investigation, the case will be presented for federal prosecution to the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” he said.

Last week, a mail carrier was charged by the Justice Department in New Jersey for dumping mail.

Documents from the court say that Nicholas Beauchene, 26, was accused of disposing of 1,875 pieces of mail in two dumpsters. Among the dumped mail were 99 general election ballots.

He was arrested and charged with one count of delay of mail and one count of obstruction of mail. If he is found guilty of both charges, he faces up to five years and six months in prison, along with a $255,000 fine.

Nicholas Beauchene was arrested and charged by the Department of Justice for aiding in the delay of mail and obstruction of mail. The 26-year-old faces one count on each charge and faces up to five and a half years in prison, as well as a $255,000 fine.
During his short stint as a mail carrier, Beauchene allegedly threw out 1,875 pieces of mail in a dumpster in North Arlington and another in West Orange.

But the plot thickens: 98 of those pieces of mail in the North Arlington dumpster were general election ballots and one was found in the West Orange dumpster. Luckily, the mail was able to be salvaged and eventually was delivered.
The former employee started working for the USPS in July, CNN reports, and it is believed that he dumped the mail on two separate occasions from two different mail routes.

The crime was discovered by Howard Dinger, a North Arlington resident. Dinger immediately contacted the authorities when he stumbled across the discarded mail while throwing his trash in the dumpster.
Beauchene had his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon at a federal courthouse in Newark, NJ the Department of Justice stated.

Sue Burgess, of Hernando County, Florida, has been forced to forfeit her prize money after placing the winning ticket in certified mail. While she could have left her ticket in a dropbox at a local lottery office, the woman believed that certified mail was the most secure option to claim her prize.

“That’s why you choose certified mail,” Burgess said. “With COVID, I understand the mail is a little bit slow. But for safety sake, certified mail usually has priority.”

Burgess’s tracking information last showed the ticket being in transit on August 12th at a Tallahassee post office.

“They said, ‘We have not received this ticket. ‘No ticket, no prize,’” Burgess added. Her prize money ultimately went to an alternate winner.

USPS issued an apology to Burgess, which read, “The Postal Service strives to always provide the best possible service to our customers. We apologize to this specific customer for any inconvenience they may have experienced. In this specific instance, we are continuing to work with the lottery office to confirm receipt of the mailpiece.”

However, that apology cannot do anything to get the $1,000 rightfully owed to her. The Florida Lottery has a strict policy that allows only seven days for a prize to be claimed. While they are not willing to hand over the cash right now, a spokeswoman for the Florida Lottery said that they would be happy to award Burgess if the ticket does turn up in their office at some point.

“Because the Lottery did not receive Ms. Burgess’ ticket within the seven-day claim period, an alternate winner was selected and paid. However, if Ms. Burgess’ package arrives at Florida Lottery Headquarters with a date stamp prior to the original expiration date, our Claims Processing department will process and pay her claim,” she said.

It is especially crucial right now, with many people moving during the pandemic and the looming election in November, for Americans to be able to update their address. According to a Pew.com survey, as of early June, about 3% of adults had moved, and 6% had someone move in with them due to the pandemic. During normal times, hundreds of thousands of people move every week.

The issue, which occurred for three weeks in August, comes at a time when states are preparing to send out mail-in ballots. For example, Minnesota sent out ballot applications by mail in early September based in part on information drawn from the outdated information provided by the database in August.

43 states plus the District of Columbia use the USPS change of address database, and when Time reached out to several states, they were unaware of the issue.

According to the USPS, the address issue was fixed, and information was restored on September 14. Martha Johnson, a spokesperson for the USPS, said the issue did not have any impact on the ability of mail to be forwarded from an old address to a new address, but some states do not allow for ballots to be forwarded.

Johnson says the USPS has implemented changes to the NCOALink system to prevent the problem that occurred in August from happening again.

“Additional enhancements being implemented into NCOALink quality control processes will detect future occurrences of this type,” Johnson told Time.

USPS implemented the new way of investigating that took effect on August 25th, one day after DeJoy testified to Congress in response to concerns that his policy changes could jeopardize the delivery of presidential mail-in ballots. Now, the Union is asking that a judge block the policy change pending arbitration and to declare that USPS leaders acted outside of their statutory authority when they changed the mail theft policy.

“The Postal Service’s sudden change is unwarranted, impermissible, and contrary to the language of the statute and also to collective bargaining promises it has made to the officers’ union,” the lawsuit states.

The Union says that Postal Police Officers have made numerous arrests off of postal service premises and have been vital in taking down criminals in conjunction with other police agencies.

“Postal Police Officers have arrested countless individuals for all manner of crimes away from postal real estate, either by themselves or in concert with other agents. Those officers were often tasked with conducting searches and seizures of arrested individuals, with the evidence obtained used to help secure criminal convictions and imprisonment for some of those arrested.”

USPS declined to get into the suit’s specifics, citing its general stance of not commenting on pending legal matters. “However, we would like to point out that the underlying factual and legal issues raised in this complaint arose well before Louis DeJoy began his service as the Postmaster-General,” said spokesman David Partenheimer.

With the presidential elections right around the corner, banning the Postal Police from investigating offsite mail theft could jeopardize mail-in votes in the event that they are stolen.