Man Allegedly Used Change Of Address Form To Move UPS Headquarters To His Apartment (npr.org)

As federal crimes go, this one seems to have been ridiculously easy to pull off. From a report: Dushaun Henderson-Spruce submitted a U.S. Postal Service change of address form on Oct. 26, 2017, according to court documents. He requested changing a corporation's mailing address from an address in Atlanta to the address of his apartment on Chicago's North Side. The post office duly updated the address, and Henderson-Spruce allegedly began receiving the company's mail -- including checks. It went on for months. Prosecutors say he deposited some $58,000 in checks improperly forwarded to his address.

The corporation isn't named in the court documents, but the Chicago Tribune reports that it's the shipping company UPS. In a statement to NPR, UPS said it "was notified that some U.S. mail, intended for UPS employees at the company's headquarters address, was redirected by an unauthorized change of address by a third party. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) corrected the issue and the USPS Postal Inspector is investigating the incident."

Comments

I'm Going To Do This With The Federal Reserve

[Anonymous Coward]

Once the Fed's address gets changed to mine, I'll be able to print money at will. They won't be able to prosecute me either. Now that I'm the Fed, I'll be completely above the law!

deposited some checks into his own account?

[CrimsonAvenger]

I'm really curious as to how he managed that, even if the checks were mailed to his house.

Or are there really people dumb enough to mail off a check without bothering to fill in the "Pay to the Order of" line???

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[14erCleaner]

"My name is Ulysses P. Stormtrooper. I just go by my initials."

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm really curious as to how he managed that, even if the checks were mailed to his house.

Because it wasn't just the post office that was run by idiots, it was the bank too. What, you think someone is on the other side of the ATM and mobile deposit phone app, making sure all the signatures match?

These kinds of issues can be found in between the lines of the procedures of any bureaucracy large enough.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[damn_registrars]

I'm really curious as to how he managed that, even if the checks were mailed to his house.

I'm actually more surprised that $58,000 worth of checks were sent to UPS at all. Who pays UPS with a check - especially one sent to the HQ?

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're used to a logically locked world with usernames and passwords. A lot of this world is still just legally locked. Yes we'll let you sign documents doing a great deal of things you shouldn't, but later a judge will punish you. Contract law is weird.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[Anonymous Coward]

Vendors

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[amiga3D]

The reason this is so easy is that only a total fucking idiot would do it. There is no way to get away with this. Yes, you can run amuck for a few weeks, then your life will be totally destroyed. I might try this if I had terminal cancer and was going to die very soon, and no conscience. The costs to make this impossible are vastly higher than the minor damage done by the occasional fool.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[Anonymous Coward]

The article says that it was only 10 checks. Given the amount of mail he'd have had to sift through I don't find it outrageous.

Even so, I find it more likely that he found 10 checks worth attempting fraud over. Given today's methods of handling checks by the banks I bet that you could use a phone app or ATM to cash a number of checks and never get caught unless someone complained about non-payment of an account. People actually eyeballing checks in these automated systems just isn't going to happen unless there is a grievance filed. That's why we do automation in the first place, to remove the human element. Given how large corporations work, non-payment on accounts can take vast amounts of time to resolve. From the standpoint for fraud, the guy had the right idea but didn't buffer himself enough from the endpoints of his con so that he could drop out of his scam undetected.

I worked for a company nearly two decades ago that paid me nearly 6 months wages in a biweekly paycheck because someone made a typo on a wage increase with some retroactive pay. This also happened in the middle of a payroll change over that was leaving a lot of people with wrong amounts in their paycheck. It was at the point that corporate sent in a special team to my campus which employed about 2000 of the companies roughly 50000 employees to help clear up the matter. Any given pay period had a double digit percentage of employees with payroll issues. Being the nice guy that I am I pointed out the error to payroll. It took them 5 or 6 pay cycles to get my account back in line. After it was all done I was told by someone in the local payroll department that had I not pointed out the error and just cashed the check it probably would have never been noticed. It wasn't a huge sum in comparison to what I currently make (it was my first year of my first IT job, a half step above a paid intern's wages) but it was still a big check in my eyes at the time.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[jargonburn]

In my experience, that field is barely glanced at. Useful for contesting after the fact, perhaps, but I'm not sure I've ever had a deposited check rejected, either personally or when handling deposits for a business.
The more interesting question (to me) is whether he understands just how many felony charges might come floating his way under the colors of "Fraud" and intentionally opening another person's mail (18 U.S. Code 1702 - Obstruction of correspondence)

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[bn-7bc]

checks for a buisness to buiseness transaction in 2018? Why not direct depostit, would that not be both quicker, cheapet and less admin?

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[nadass]

They shouldn't be sending such large checks through USPS, they should FedEx them.

Wouldn't they UPS them?

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[damn_registrars]

They shouldn't be sending such large checks through USPS, they should FedEx them.

Wouldn't they UPS them?

UPS doesn't have time to wait for those slowpokes. They really should turn to DHL.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[ShanghaiBill]

I would certainly expect the transaction to pass in front of a human's eyes at some point before being cleared.

I don't think so. I have deposited checks in my spouse's name to my account many times, and she has deposited checks in my name to her account. We have also received checks in our company name that we have deposited to our personal accounts. We have done this many dozens of times. Never, not once, have any of these deposits been rejected.

Re: deposited some checks into his own account?

[Anonymous Coward]

Look everyone, it's Robin Hood!

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[iggymanz]

wrong. the only mistake the thief made was letting it go for weeks. crook smarter and less greedy could have disappeared sooner and got away with it.

Re: deposited some checks into his own account?

[MikeKD]

From the F'ing summary (emphasis mine):

"was notified that some U.S. mail, intended for UPS employees at the company's headquarters address, was redirected by an unauthorized change of address by a third party. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) corrected the issue and the USPS Postal Inspector is investigating the incident."

Re: deposited some checks into his own account?

[slew]

From the F'ing summary (emphasis mine):

"was notified that some U.S. mail, intended for UPS employees at the company's headquarters address, was redirected by an unauthorized change of address by a third party. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) corrected the issue and the USPS Postal Inspector is investigating the incident."

I don't know about you, but I don't get my personal mail delivered to my company's headquarter's address. The mail addressed to me delivered to my company's address is basically work stuff. Although missing the occasional letter among the junk mail might impact the company, rarely has a specific impact on me these days (other than potentially creates more paperwork and hassle for me on the job, it doesn't generally affect my personal life or finances)...

I supposed you could theoretically have something important (replacement credit card, passport/visa) delivered to you at work, but why would you use the USPS for something actually important?

More specifically in this case, if you were a UPS employee, wouldn't you just use UPS for something like that? AFAIK, UPS doesn't' have a way to submit a change of address form and they always deliver to the street address on the package/letter.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[DeBaas]

for the younger European readers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Re: deposited some checks into his own account?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, to fuck with people's lives, income, ability to work, feed children, and pay rent you would have to be a sociopath.

That you've convinced yourself that a company isn't just a group of people earning a living, so that you don't have to feel guilty about being an evil piece of shit, is not consequential. You are still an evil piece of shit.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[ripvlan]

Apparently you have no criminal intent. But - where's there's a will there's a way.

First he setup up a business bank account - like all those look alike URL's you've seen.
Then deposits checks into his business. Most businesses use a rubber stamp - and nobody Really knows what the stamp looks like. Would you know? Nah - "looks legit."

Or they were really small checks and he made them out to cash. There are money laundering services that will help out. Car Washes in Arizona for example.

anyhow - it isn't difficult to do. But likely you'll get busted. Lots of paper trails.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[amiga3D]

It took weeks for him to collect any real money. That's the point, it's chump change for major risk and bad punishment. If he was going to get a couple of million in one check then sure, but those kind of checks get looked at differently.

Re: deposited some checks into his own account?

[Wrath0fb0b]

You've never had your company reimburse you for a business expense by mailing you a check at your business address?

[ Today we have direct deposit for that . . . ]

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[The-Ixian]

Yes, retire to your private island on your thousands of dollars!

Re: deposited some checks into his own account?

[ncc74656]

You've never had your company reimburse you for a business expense by mailing you a check at your business address?

Someone from accounting brings a check over, or hands it to my boss (who then hands it to me).

[ Today we have direct deposit for that . . . ]

That's for payroll. Reimbursements are handled by accounts payable.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[dryeo]

On the other hand, I've had cheques rejected for minor typos, had a flurry of it happening at one point, figured it was a new person checking the cheques.
Cashing other peoples cheques meanwhile never triggered anything, probably only if the other person complained would it matter. It's like how under common law you can use any name you like, as long as it isn't for fraudulent purposes.

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[AmiMoJo]

I'd be more concerned about the potential for mischief. It seems like all you need to do is fill out a form and you can redirect anyone's mail.

Imagine trying to explain that you meant to pay that overdue bill but someone redirected your mail and you never got the invoice or reminders or court summons...

Re:deposited some checks into his own account?

[iggymanz]

the smart thief would do it again and again in different places

Re: deposited some checks into his own account?

[Wrath0fb0b]

Someone from accounting brings a check over, or hands it to my boss (who then hands it to me).

Must be a small company. Our accounts payable is in a different State :-P

That's for payroll. Reimbursements are handled by accounts payable.

I know, but get this: somehow they interlinked the two systems (across departments!) so that accounts payable to an employee automagically get routed to that employee's direct deposit just like their paycheck. Will the wonders of technologies never cease?

File under...

[GrandWaz00]

Timeless classics of low-tech hackery

This works a lot of different ways

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had someone have my account with the power company shut off by calling them and registering another account on top of my address. They never once checked that the person actually lived there, or found it suspicious that there was already an account on file at the address.

The world is a bureaucracy, the rules are poorly defined, and the employees are all poorly paid and educated. Go out and break something.

Re:This works a lot of different ways

[Attila Dimedici]

That is not very surprising. I have rented several houses. Every time, I just contacted the power company and had them put the electric in my name as of the day my lease started. Between the time the previous tenant left and I moved in, the landlord had the account in his name. The power company asked me some confirming questions then executed the change.

Re:hmm. . .

[Oswald McWeany]

. . . put in a change of address in for Donald Trump (evil grin)

Do you really want to be receiving Donald Trump's mail? I'm sure it's just a bunch of Café Press crap with his face all over it, and bills for water-sports escorts.

Better idea

[Okian Warrior]

Take two states that have towns with the same name, such as Westborough (a common town name in the US).

Fill out a change of address form, of your mark for Westborough, State1. Now all their mail will be going to Westborough, State1.

Fill out two other forms, one sending mail for your mark from Westborough, State1 to Westborough, State2, and the other sending mail for your mark from Westborough, State 2 to Westborough, State 1. This effectively makes a "loop" of mail forwarding at the endpoint.

(Consider adding a hand-written note "my address was changed to the wrong state by accident - please forward all my mail to the correct state until I can get it all fixed" to each side.)

I once asked a friend who works at the post office how long this would take to get sorted out, and he replied "the question is, would they be able to get this sorted out at all".

Re:Better idea

[Dru Nemeton]

And the Dr. Evil Jr. award for Friday goes to... Okian Warrior! Well played... well played....

Re:Better idea

[Solandri]

There was actually an old check forging scheme which relied on this. The forger would alter the routing number on the check, then deposit it. The bank would note that it was a local check, and only put a 2-3 day hold on the deposited funds. The key was that checks were only considered bad if the issuing bank notified the deposit bank that it was bad (negative confirmation). So the fraud relied in preventing any such notification from being generated, which the depositing bank would take to mean the check was good, and release the funds to the depositor.

Although the check bore the name and address of the Chemical Bank in New York, the Federal Reserve data-processing system scanned only the magnetic-ink code on it, identified it as a Bank of America check, and routed it to Los Angeles. The check remained in transit for perhaps two days. At the end of that time, it was run through the computer mechanism at the Bank of America. The computer, instantly searching its memory for a Bank of America account number matching that of the magnetic-ink strip on the check, rejected the check, which then went into a clerical pool for manual handling. Since the printed logotype on the check clearly identified it as a check that belonged in the Chemical Bank in New York, the clerk handling the machine-rejected check sent it back to the Chemical Bank by mail, assuming that a simple routing error had been made. The check was then in transit for another two days. Back at the Chemical Bank, the check was put into the computerized sorting system for final clearance. But instead of that, it went into motion again: the Chemical Bank computing system passed it on to the Federal Reserve System, which routed it out to the Los Angeles bank again, which routinely sent it back to New York, and so on.

The fraud was uncovered only when checks issued by the depositor became so frayed from mechanical handling in the computer system that they could no longer be read automatically ⦠[b]y that time, according to an auditor who told me of the affair, the depositor had disappeared with more than $1 million in cash.

Re:Better idea

[Whorhay]

I haven't had to forward mail in a long time, but if it still works the way it did 15 years ago the scheme wouldn't work. Each time a piece of mail needs to be forwarded they put a bright yellow label on it indicating it was being forwarded. Circular routing would quickly become apparent as the envelope would end up covered in stickers with the two addresses printed on them.

Re:hmm. . .

[Joe_Dragon]

1 Donald Trump and pardon him self and 2 if does go he can bunk with Rod Blagojevich and Jared Fogle at Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood

This scam was pulled on me,

[pecosdave]

the post office acknowledged it happened, then absolutely positively refused to do anything about it despite it being a pretty big federal offense.

Story of my life - crap pulled on me regularly and no action taken on my behalf, but if someone throws trash in my yard right after I leave for work I get a note from the homeowners association before I get home.

Re:This scam was pulled on me,

[omnichad]

the post office acknowledged it happened, then absolutely positively refused to do anything about it despite it being a pretty big federal offense.

Right. Because if they draw more attention to how insecure the change of address process is, they would have to actually change their process.

Re:This scam was pulled on me,

[pecosdave]

It was my (former) sister-in-law that pulled it, and it's been quite a few years now. She was technologically handicapped so she probably did use a paper form.

Re:Completely illegal on one side...

[bickerdyke]

Halfway.... It could have been as brilliant as easy, hadn't he used his apartment adress without even one more layer of indirection.

questions!

[cascadingstylesheet]

So many questions!!

1. UPS didn't notice that they weren't getting mail, including checks ... for months??

2. A bank cashed these checks for the guy? Why?

3. "Dushuan"?

Re:questions!

[nadass]

So many questions!!

1. UPS didn't notice that they weren't getting mail, including checks ... for months??

2. A bank cashed these checks for the guy? Why?

3. "Dushuan"?

1. It was seemingly a specific vendor payments postal address.

2. Some banks just don't have any security... or they used a middleman/cheque caching place.

3. Pronounced Duh-shh-awn. Not from Beverly Hills.

Re:questions!

[Whorhay]

I've no idea how it happened but I can imagine it relatively easily. Get a fake ID using your photo and a real persons name and SSN. Use said fake id to request a copy of that persons Birth Certificate and SSN card. Take your new documents to a bank and use them to open an account. From there you can just start cashing checks you intercepted for that person. If the checks are for a business you just have an extra step or two where you open a business account. The only real risk of getting caught in any of this is if the victim notices the credit checks being run on them from the bank when you open the accounts.

Re:questions!

[cascadingstylesheet]

I've no idea how it happened but I can imagine it relatively easily. Get a fake ID using your photo and a real persons name and SSN. Use said fake id to request a copy of that persons Birth Certificate and SSN card. Take your new documents to a bank and use them to open an account. From there you can just start cashing checks you intercepted for that person. If the checks are for a business you just have an extra step or two where you open a business account. The only real risk of getting caught in any of this is if the victim notices the credit checks being run on them from the bank when you open the accounts.

The person's name is UPS? Your new business account is called UPS?

Re:questions!

[Whorhay]

Two easy options I can think of.

1. Register your new business account with a name that shares the same initials. Although this only works with checks that people are silly enough to fill out using only the initials, rather than the real name.

2. Show up in a nice suit when creating the new account and bluff your way through setting up an account for your new UPS branch. At worst you're left with trying to outwit a bank manager who wants your business.

The Inspectors

[Vreejack]

This will make a great story line for The Inspectors. http://www.cbsdreamteam.com/th...

Relatively speaking.

Re: hmm. . .

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently his crime was beating Hillary and not being a politician and basically making the Media, Democrats and establishment Republicans look like the pathetic. lying, power hunger elitists we all know them to be. Pulling the curtain back on our ruling class is the greatest crime that can be committed.

Walk into any cash checking place

[rsilvergun]

they get 2% of the gross. They'll cash anything.

Don't do this.

[duke_cheetah2003]

It's mail fraud, and the federal government's law enforcement arm frowns mightily on this. This guy will be getting his very own concrete bedroom for a very very long time if convicted.