Brickbat: Post Fraud – Reason.com

A federal grand jury in Boston indicted former postal fraud inspector Scott Kelley on counts including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns. According to prosecutors, Kelley used his position to steal over $330,000 from elderly victims of a telemarketing scam. Scammers contacted elderly people and said they had won a sweepstakes but needed to send in cash to pay the taxes before they could collect their prize. Postal inspectors could flag packages they suspected of being part of a scam but could not open them without the sender’s consent. But prosecutors say between January 2019 and August 2023, Kelley used deceptive emails to convince postal employees to send him 1,950 total packages flagged as containing cash from scam victims. He then opened the packages and stole the money, which he spent on a heated pool, Caribbean cruises, and sex with escorts during the workday.