A California woman is accused of shipping over 9 million parcels using counterfeit postage, costing the USPS $60 million in lost revenue
Los Angeles CA June 9th, 2023 A California woman used counterfeit postage to ship over nine million parcels over the course of six months, prosecutors claimed in a recent court filing.
Lijuan “Angela” Chen was arrested on May 24 after postal inspectors from the United States Postal Service investigated the alleged fraud scheme, documents seen by Insider show.
She faces one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and one count of use or possession of counterfeit postage, per the documents. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, if the defendant is found guilty.
According to an inspector’s affidavit, the USPS would have lost $60 million in revenue due to the apparent scheme.
The postal inspector said that the shipping labels used a meter number which had already been phased out of use in 2020, even though they also indicated they’d been purchased in 2023.
He also carried out surveillance on a warehouse, watching a delivery truck travel to a USPS facility “where it unloaded twelve large cardboard boxes full of parcels containing counterfeit postage,” per the affidavit.
Other inspectors saw one truck, which had been turned away from a distribution center for trying to ship mail with counterfeit postage, parked outside Chen’s house a day later, according to the court document.
“The evidence obtained in the investigation shows that Chen is operating a business which provides shipping and postage services to businesses, including e-commerce vendors operating out of China, that seek discounted USPS rates for mailing their products within the United States,” the court document says.
“Multiple examinations conducted by USPS and USPIS staff have revealed that the vast majority of the postage used by Chen and her business to ship goods within the United States is counterfeit,” it alleges.
Prosecutors say the alleged scheme was initially run by Chen’s husband before he travelled to China in 2019, and she is believed to have continued it no later than August 2022.
In a statement to Insider, the US Postal Inspection Service said: “These charges are a reminder that fraud against the U.S. Postal Service is not victimless crime and individuals who attempt to commit these crimes face significant penalties as a result of their criminal activity.”
The agency also pointed to its expansion of Project Safe Delivery, actions cracking down on postal crime, announced May 12.
“This arrest should serve as a reminder to criminals that postal inspectors, working with our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue them in order to preserve the financial integrity of the U.S. Postal Service,” it added. “This is an arrest, as such, defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. As the case is not fully adjudicated, we cannot comment further at this juncture.”