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USPS Oig Report On Counterfeit Stamps 16 June 2026

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Bedrock Of The Community
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Posted Today  7 Hrs 39 Min ago  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add rogdcam to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
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.
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Bedrock Of The Community
United States
10779 Posts
Posted Today  7 Hrs 23 Min ago  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add revcollector to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
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.
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Bedrock Of The Community
12671 Posts
Posted Today  6 Hrs 59 Min ago  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add rogdcam to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
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.


Quote:
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (Postal Inspection Service) echoes the United States Postal Service (USPS) warning urging consumers to be on alert for counterfeit stamps and counterfeit postage labels on packages.

Under federal law, Title 18 United States Code 501, it is unlawful for an individual to use, sell, or deposit packages and/or letters affixed with counterfeit postage or stamps in the U.S. Mail. If engaged in this fraudulent criminal activity, an individual may be liable for criminal and/or civil penalties. Furthermore, U.S. Mail, including packages, found with counterfeit stamps and/or postage may not be processed or delivered by USPS. Postal Inspectors are actively conducting investigations to identify the criminal misuse of the U.S. Mail, along with the perpetrators. Postal Inspectors also conduct interdictions of packages containing counterfeit postage labels and, as part of a criminal investigation, packages with affixed counterfeit postage can be seized.

The Postal Inspection Service's Revenue Investigations Program focuses on detecting counterfeit postage labels and stamps. Postal Inspectors are working with USPS Engineering and Technology groups to continuously identify counterfeit postage. In one of many recent initiatives, the Postal Inspection Service also conducted counterfeit package interdictions with Customs and Border Protection in New York and Los Angeles where numerous freight shipments containing packages affixed with counterfeit postage were refused entry into the U.S. In one case, we seized $2.5 million in counterfeit stamps coming from China.

The Postal Inspection Service is also focusing on consumer protection. The number of counterfeit stamps being sold from online platforms has increased. Scammers sell fake stamps on social media marketplaces, e-commerce sites via third party vendors, and other websites. Typically, scammers sell counterfeit stamps at a large discount. The Postal Inspection Service recommends purchasing from Approved Postal Providers™. Approved vendors can include legitimate warehouse retailers who do provide very small discounts on postage stamps, but through resale agreements with the Postal Service. Please visit this Public Service Announcement on counterfeit postage.

"The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is committed to protecting consumers and the U.S. Mail from fraudulent activity. Engaging in counterfeit postage label and stamp fraud causes monetary losses to Postal consumers and the United States Postal Service alike," said Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale. "Fraudsters beware, the Postal Inspection Service will continue to exhaust all its efforts to disrupt your scheme, find you, and bring you to justice."

If you feel that you have received a package affixed with counterfeit postage, please report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service fraud hotline at 800-372-8347. For more information on counterfeit stamps and other crimes, please visit www.uspis.gov.


www.uspis.gov/u-s-postal-ins...feit-postage" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.uspis.gov/u-s-postal-in...feit-postage
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Edited by rogdcam - Today 6 Hrs 46 Min ago
Bedrock Of The Community
United States
10779 Posts
Posted Today  4 Hrs 39 Min ago  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add revcollector to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
It's easy to claim that they can detect counterfeit stamps, and when they did not have tagging it was possible to do so fairly easily, but if it was so easy to do now they would be doing it all the time. And they would be shouting it from the rooftops every time they actually busted people, in an attempt to get others afraid to use or sell them. Which clearly has not happened. Sure, they might have gotten lucky once or twice and stopped a shipment or two, but hardly any serious quantity. A lot of it is just giving the same warnings that we have stated here. And "knowing" how much revenue is lost can just as easily be an extrapolation; no one here would have any way of knowing how accurate those numbers are anyway. In short, that's just a lot of words with no actual evidence of proof that it is actually accomplishing much of anything. That's why these threads exist, because of the size of the problem.
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Pillar Of The Community
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United States
1106 Posts
Posted Today  4 Hrs 20 Min ago  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add ZebraMan to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
All of these ideas strengthen the case for focusing on end-users. ... Make the prosecutions very public. The issue of demand is all that keeps this going.


I agree. Has anyone ever seen one of those "threatening letters" from the USPS mailed to a consumer suspected of using counterfeit stamps?

Except for that one press release in 2024, I have seen very little publicity about this problem. Looking back at 6 months of Informed Delivery, here is what I have received from USPS, but not a single warning about the dangers of buying discount postage online.











Quote:
It's easy to claim that they can detect counterfeit stamps, and when they did not have tagging it was possible to do so fairly easily, but if it was so easy to do now they would be doing it all the time. And they would be shouting it from the rooftops every time they actually busted people, in an attempt to get others afraid to use or sell them. Which clearly has not happened. Sure, they might have gotten lucky once or twice and stopped a shipment or two, but hardly any serious quantity.

It's almost as if they are intentionally ignoring the problem, hoping that the USPS will ultimately spiral into bankruptcy and be privatized.

Even if they can't successfully prosecute and convict a consumer of knowingly using counterfeit postage, a few knocks on the door from a uniformed federal officer should be enough to send shivers through the unsuspecting buyers and start a groundswell of social media reports to get the word out...
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
4399 Posts
Posted Today  1 Hr 36 Min ago  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add Parcelpostguy to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Thanks for the reminder. Has USPS or DOJ taken any action against these organizations selling the counterfeit stamps?


No because "these organizations" are NOT selling counterfeit stamps, third party individuals are doing the selling, not the internet platform.
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Bedrock Of The Community
United States
10779 Posts
Posted Today  1 Hr 25 Min ago  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add revcollector to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
The platforms make it possible, but since they are owned by billionaires, and we all know how the government feels about billionaires, we all know that nothing will ever happen to those platforms.
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Valued Member
United States
457 Posts
Posted Today  1 Hr 7 Min ago  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add gvol21 to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Even if they can't successfully prosecute and convict a consumer of knowingly using counterfeit postage, a few knocks on the door from a uniformed federal officer should be enough to send shivers through the unsuspecting buyers and start a groundswell of social media reports to get the word out...

Honestly, this is a great idea - just do a couple hundred visits across the country over the course of a month and let social media and local news pick up on the rest.
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Bedrock Of The Community
12671 Posts
Posted Today  13 Min ago  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add rogdcam to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
The platforms make it possible, but since they are owned by billionaires, and we all know how the government feels about billionaires, we all know that nothing will ever happen to those platforms.


This is false.

Unlike a company such as Hip Stamp the platforms we are speaking of, ebay, Facebook etc., are publicly traded companies owned by a wide range of institutional and individual shareholders.
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