Discounted US Postage On Ebay (Forever Stamps)

I made a discovery recently which shed some light on a question I have been tossing about in my head. It is a question which has been asked previously on this form. Why are people selling so many contemporary postage stamps (such as Forever stamps, or computer printed 44c postage labels) at a discount on auction websites such as ebay. Yesterday, the question was finally answered for me.

Some have suggested that these stamps are stolen. I spoke with a co-worker who used to work in a post office, and postage stamps are very rarely stolen, as there are stiff penalties in place for doing so.

As part of my work I come in contact from time to time with debit/credit card fraud. I had been reviewing a few cases recently and noticed thousands of dollars being spent at USPS.COM.

People are using postage stamps to launder money stolen from individuals (eventually insurance companies end up paying much the price of this theft, which means higher premiums and higher costs for all consumers).

That is not to say that there are not plenty of offers and auctions for discounted postage that are quite legitimate, of course.

My guess is that most of these auction websites will be happy to take their cut, at least until political pressure is brought to bear.

Very interesting..
It does make perfect sense.

I see these offers on Craigslist too..maybe I'll start reporting them to the authorities. Reminds me of the time I was at a gas station and some sketchy guy offered to pay for my gas with "his credit card" in exchange for gas. Of course I didn't go for that.

Ha! About a year ago, I saw a funny ad on the local Craigslist. This person had several books of stamps and gave a long-winded explanation of why they have so many stamps and wanted to sell them at like 75% value.

Cha - Ching!

Of course, with credit cards used online, the billing address must match the delivery address, or isn't this a general rule? So are they using stolen cards? And if they are not, how do you see them using postage stamps to launder money stolen from individuals?

An interesting, point Modern, though for most merchants what is required is that the person ordering the merchandise (stamps) just has to confirm the billing address, and once they do that, they can have the merchandise shipped to an alternate address.

In my experience most of the theft is by someone who works for the merchant, and who would have access to other customer information held by the merchant such as their home address.

So if, in this case, the merchant is the USPS, aren't you back at square one, but in a virtual mode?

Yes. But if the merchant is an eyeglasses store (or any other store that is not the USPS), then someone working there would have a potential victim's card number and home address at their fingertips. Then they can make an order at USPS.com and easily confirm the billing address.

OK, I see what you are saying. By merchant you didn't mean the USPS but a third party merchant.

I left my card behind sitting on the counter a few years ago and it wound up getting taken and used for exactly this sort of thing...

Fortunately, the bank did not hold me liable...

Just goes to show how stupid thieves are! Say you buy the stamps with a bad card and have them sent somewhere else. They were still shipped! That means an address and tracking! Now lets add you defrauded the USPS, That's a Federal Crime. Using the mail in the commission of a fraud, also Federal offence. If it is sent to a PO Box another Federal offence. Using the Internet to commit a crime, Federal offence. This isn't even including Credit Card Fraud. These are just off the top of my head. In other words I would NOT want to be them when the Postal Police and the FBI catch them! Can you say, "Looking mighty nice in Federal Prison Orange".

I have my credit cards set up so that they will only be approved if the shipping address matches the ones on file with the credit card. Any other address results in instant rejection. If your credit card doesn't offer that service for free, might want to consider an alternate.

It really does work, too. I got called within 1 hour when someone in another state tried to use my card number to make a purchase. They sent me a new card/number within 24 hours.

Hackers are getting hold of and selling card numbers and personal info all the time. We cannot just rely on vendors declaring their sites "secure". There are sufficient precautions offered by banks and credit card companies that are free. Unless you have a need to rapidly and frequently expand your credit or purchase/delivery locations, putting a few fee-free restrictions can close many of the openings for crooks.

I have only run into one problem with implementing restrictions. About 15 years ago, I couldn't use one of my cards in Canada (I live in the US) temporarily until I could clear the security hurdles/verifications. However, I was able to use my other credit cards, so it really wasn't a problem.

Now all you have to do is call the CC company and tell them what country and when you will be in it and it is not a problem.

I don't even have to do that. They have software that tracks my movements and spending habits, as well as ticket purchases...

That's why it hasn't happened again since 15 years ago.

Their security monitoring is actually quite good, although I'm not sure I'm all that comfortable with all the info they compile on me. I feel like I'm being followed and recorded by a virtual detective.

It's really a little shocking all the information that is available online about almost anyone. And that's just the FREE part. I was testing one site, and they have my addresses going back almost 20 years! (I have many temporary addresses because I was moving around a lot setting up our organization bases/infrastructure). I have heard that the info available from the pay sites is unbelievable.