CLICK HERE to Report Fraud, Theft and Misconduct

Promoting Integrity and Accountability
Contact Us
Initializing...

Bronx Letter Carrier Arrested in $90 Million Tax Refund Scam

Featured News Story

           

Bronx Letter Carrier Arrested in $90 Million Tax Refund Scam

OIG Special Agents, along with Postal Inspectors, FBI and IRS agents, arrested a Bronx letter carrier and two accomplices, in the crack-down of a massive tax-refund scheme to defraud the IRS out of more than $90 million. At the time of arrest, the carrier had 75 bogus refund checks in his possession.

The scam worked like this:

  • In January, some 8,000 tax returns were electronically filed from the Dominican Republic.
  • By using Social Security numbers stolen from citizens of Puerto Rico, the fraudsters limited the risk that a legitimate return had already been filed, since many Puerto Rican residents typically don't file returns if the bulk of their income is generated at home.
  • The IRS determined that 3,300 of those returns, ranging from $2,000 to $23,000 and totaling $32 million, were bogus and were never sent out.
  • The refund checks were mailed to various New York addresses, where they were intercepted from the mail by a postal employee and given to the scammers, who in turn, paid the employee a "per-check fee."
  • A federal task force was set up and carried out the "sting" and arrests. In the Dominican Republic, authorities rounded up 19 people and seized more than a dozen computers.
    • Read more

     

     

    Not Saying "No" To Your Kids Can Land You In Jail

    Featured News Story

               

    Not Saying “No� To Your Kids Can Land You In Jail

    Parents will do almost anything for their children. But stealing? That is another matter entirely. Yet that is exactly what one New York Postmaster claimed she did. She stole U.S. Postal Service money orders to pay car loans for her children, because she just could not say “no.” She also paid several of her own bills: Car loan and utility, cable, department store and banking credit card bills – all courtesy of the Postal Service. Thanks to an investigation done by Office of Inspector General (OIG) Special Agents, this Postmaster no longer has a job, was ordered to pay restitution of approximately $85,000 to the Postal Service and will also spend the next 15 months in jail.

     

     

    Faster and More Efficient Mail Delivery

    Featured News Story

               

    Faster and More Efficient Mail Delivery

    Mercury, the winged messenger from Roman mythology, famous for his speedy delivery, was a symbol for the Postal Service in colonial times. The Postal Service is not only following Mercury's example by quickly processing the mail, but is doing so as efficiently as possible. Great progress has been made in improving mail efficiency processing rates following a series of audits conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) over the last four years. Specifically, we issued 17 audit reports addressing the efficiency of mail processing at 11 facilities with a monetary impact of more than $1 billion, based on eliminating more than 3.4 million workhours.

    Management agreed with the recommendations we made in that series of reports, so we recently conducted another audit to determine the progress of the agency in implementing those recommendations through FY 2007 and assess the productivity and service impact of actions taken so far. Among our findings, the Postal Service has reduced workhours by 1.6 million, improved productivity by more than 4 percent, and decreased overtime usage at the majority of the facilities. To read the report in its entirety, click here.

     

     

    Strategic Plan                   hotline