USPS Oig Report On Counterfeit Stamps 16 June 2026

All of these ideas strengthen the case for focusing on end-users. No need to obtain info from platforms or follow tracking codes etc. all of which require significant resources at scale.

End-users aren't hiding. Their personal information is on the envelope along with that stamp they got from ebay or FB or wherever.

Make the prosecutions very public. The issue of demand is all that keeps this going.

It would have to be proven that they knew that they were counterfeit. And who is going to be checking all the mail to discover which stamps even are counterfeit? It would cost FAR more than it is worth to try to find everyone who is using them. Especially since very few people are capable of actually telling the difference between real and fake. And every stamp is being counterfeited, which means years of study even for collectors who are genuinely interested. The only way to stop it is at the source, which is a political problem with no real answer. As long as everyone involved in selling is making easy money, and people on a budget are saving money, it's never going away.

None of the above is true. The USPS has already stated that they were going to take punitive measures (not processing the mail and sending a warning notice) against senders of mail bearing counterfeit stamps. They just have not done it. It's also not true that the USPS can't identify counterfeits in the mail stream. They can and do. That's how the have put a number on lost revenue. The problem has been what to do about it (see sentence above this with proposed action that never took place).

It just takes courage to piss-off some customers.