How to Report Mail Fraud
The rise in popularity of the Internet and email has not stopped criminals from attempting mail fraud. This is a federal crime, and the best thing you can do when you suspect a scam is to report it immediately. There are a few steps you can take in reporting fraudulent mail as well as to help others from becoming victims.
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Instructions
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Reporting Mail Fraud
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Identify certain kinds of mail as potential mail fraud. Some of the more popular schemes used by postal criminals are work-at-home opportunities, indicating that you may have won money in a foreign lottery, a marketing scheme that asks you to sign up your friends and have them pay a fee to join, investment schemes that seem too good to be true, and free prize giveaways for contests you did not enter.
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Go to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service website and fill out the online fraud reporting form. Fill the form out as completely as possible, making certain to fill in the mandatory red starred entries. There is limited space to give details about why you feel the mail you received is a fraud, so make your entry concise and to the point.
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Store the mail in question in a safe place. If the Postal Inspection Service deems your case important enough, it may contact you and want to see the allegedly fraudulent mail.
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Visit one of the many consumer websites that warn about mail fraud and fill out a form to warn others of the mail you received. These websites are resources for other examples of potential mail fraud that may help you be more vigilant.
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Tips & Warnings
If something you receive in the mail seems too good to be true then it probably is. Be skeptical about mail that comes from a company or address you do not recognize.
One way to tell if a company is trying to scam you is by the contact information. If there is only a post office box and no telephone number, email address or website then it is more than likely is a scam.
