Good Lifestyle

The holidays that are getting closer and closer, we count on the American postal service (USPS) More often than we usually do. The mail itself can also be more important, because we send gifts, cards and money to our loved ones. But following a report by a woman missing a package full of sentimental articles, the agency now reminds customers to be a little cautious. Read the continuation for the warning of USPS of the sending of "valuables" by post.

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A woman from Wellington, Florida, recently contacted WPTV Local-Affilié NBC About his difficulties with the shipment of a sentimental package via the USPS. Resident Roberta Philmus told the point of sale that after spending last year to knit a blanket and a pillow for her daughter who lives in Colorado, she sent it by postal service on September 18.

Now three months later, he has still not arrived with his daughter and has not been returned to Philmus either - with follow -up information indicating that she has evolved in several post offices across the country.

Wellington's wife said he was told that there was a problem with the barcode of her package, which the USPS had since confirmed to WPTV. But while Philmus’s problem will soon be solved, the agency's law enforcement now advises customers to be careful when they send something sentimental, especially since it gets closer to the holidays.

"Unfortunately, the flight of mail is a problem and during this period of the year, criminals know that valuables are by post, that's what they seek to target," Bryan Masmela , a postal inspector based in Miami for the USPS, told WPTV. "There are individuals who sometimes lead to the search for packages to be delivered in unattended houses."

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Of course, some things are useful without being sentimental. In July, the USPS published an alert on an idiot in cash in the history of the cover of His postal bulletin . According to the agency, criminals use "the grandparent scam" to convince the victims to make risky payments via the postal system. In this program, the crooks collect personal information on an individual via his social media, then contact this person's grandparent. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"The crook makes a story that the grand-child was in an accident or is in a kind of legal or financial problems and needs money immediately," said the USPS. "Then they ask the victim to send money to an address so that he can take care of the grandchild."

The new technology of artificial intelligence also helps to make this idiot even more convincing. But when you send money by post, it is unlikely that you will recover it if it is stolen, because it is generally not found.

"The truth is that no one has been in an accident or is in legal difficulty. Everyone is safe, except for your money. It's gone," warned the postal service.

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And it's not just money. In February, the US Financial Treasury Department Crimes Smart Network (Fincen) expressed an alert Regarding a "national increase in the flight of mail linked to fraud regimes per check", bringing the number of fraud reports per check filed by banks had doubled from 2021 to 2022.

The criminals will steal the vouchers of the postal system for "wash of checks", which is a process in which they eliminate and chemically modify information on a check in order to fraudulently collect it.

But in a Interview September 2023 With the Federal News Network, Ryan Moody , Vice-President Director of Payment Product Management at Vericast, revealed that the way you write your checks could help them protect this mail flight system. According to Moody, controls filled with a gel pen are more difficult to "wash" because of how ink is absorbed, which makes them less precious for criminals.

"When chemicals [control washing] are applied to a control that has this ink absorbed in paper, these chemicals are not very lucky against this, so it is very easy to see that the check was Modified, "he said the federal information network.

At the end of August, WPTV spoke to two residents of Boynton Beach, Florida, who said they had stolen thousands of people after sending checks to the city's post office. Lorna swartz said The media that a check for $ 50,000 she had sent to the IRS had been slipped from the installation, while Daniel Castiglione said he had $ 2,560 withdrawn Outside your current account after sending a check for only $ 113.

"I started to think a little, I put two and two together, and I said that someone may have stolen something in my check," Castiglione told WPTV.

In light of the flights to Boynton Beach and the national increase in check by check, the USPS warned customers to be more prudent at the idea of using the mailboxes of the Blue Collection of the Agency To send checks. An agency spokesperson told WPTV that the best way people can protect themselves is paying attention When They abandon their checks in these public containers.

"We ask customers to observe the collection times on the collection boxes and if after the last programmed van inside the building to deposit their mail if in a post office," said the spokesperson. "If in another location, observe the pick -up time and do not place if after the scheduled time."

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