USPS Increases Offering $150K for Arrest in Mail Carrier Robberies
- The USPS announces elevated efforts to prevent mail theft
- Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, meanwhile, has announced his resignation
- USPS efforts will likely fall short, as they face a formidable opponent
Over the past few months, we've seen a concerted effort by the USPS and the US Government to make drastic changes addressing major challenges within the agency.
As we noted earlier, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has announced his resignation from the USPS, and there are rumors that the Trump administration is preparing an executive order that would "dissolve the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service and absorb the independent mail agency into his administration."
From the stolen mail/mail carrier robbery side, we alerted readers on a report released in October 2024 by Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service Office, revealing how brazen USPS employees were stealing letters and packages using large coats and bags brought onto USPS facility floors to conceal stolen mail and packages. Additionally, the USPS collaborated with the ABA on three infographics illustrating check fraud and money mules.
Now, we're seeing the USPS step up their prevention of stolen mail and mail carrier protection by increasing rewards for arrests.
Increase Rewards for Mail Theft and Mail Carrier Robbery Arrests
In a news report from WKRC, the Postal Service now claims progress in countering mail theft and mail carriers -- citing, for instance, increased rewards.
The USPS has also increased reward money to encourage more arrests.
"Robbery of a letter carrier will now allow us to put a $150,000 reward, an increase from $50,000 before," said Nicole Lutz, a postal inspector at the Cincinnati Field Office. "Postal inspectors can now offer a $100,000 reward leading to information on identification, arrest, and prosecution for those who steal U.S. mail, an increase from $10,000 prior."
This new effort supplements Project SAFE Delivery, a joint initiative launched in May 2023 by the United States Postal Service (USPS) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to combat the rise in mail theft and violent crimes targeting postal employees. This effort has reportedly led to a 27% drop in robberies of letter carriers nationally, with over 2,400 arrests for mail theft.
USPS Efforts Enough to Curb Check Fraud?
The USPS is going through drastic changes, and many of them are seen as positives to curb issues with protecting mailboxes and mail carriers -- which will hopefully, in turn, reduce mail theft.
So, is this enough to curb check fraud? Unfortunately, it's not very likely. As noted earlier, check fraud SARs from 2024 (682,276) nearly reached an all time high from 2022 (683,000) -- showing that efforts to deter mail theft have not made a dent in check fraud.
Unfortunately, financial institutions cannot rely on the USPS to prevent the theft of checks, but they can deploy the right technologies to protect their customers -- a multitude of solutions that detect counterfeits, forgeries, and alterations before funds are lost. This includes -- perhaps most importantly -- image forensic AI to analyze images of checks.
We applaud the efforts of the USPS. However, FIs cannot bet on their efforts alone to significantly reduce check fraud.