Friday, August 04, 2017

A Long PSA


Momma had something terrible happen
and she wanted to share it as a PSA to
hopefully send out awareness for
others to be alert in case they ever need to be.
I'm turning it over to Momma now.

***

Several weeks ago, my Father passed away.
We did a nice long obituary for him
as a way to honor his life.
It caught the attention, we believe of
many, some with nefarious intentions.
One such intention entailed someone evil
putting in a change of address
in my Father's name with the USPS.
We came to find out it's a very easy thing
to do. You simply pick up a COA form
fill it out and drop it in the mail.
No checking.
No verification.
No ID required.
Or, you set up an online USPS account
in a person's name and
then send their mail to wherever
you chose.
Thankfully before it could be fully
implemented the mail carrier asked 
my Mother if she had forwarded my Dad's mail
for any reason? She thought it was odd.
That was when we knew something
was way off. It took less than a day for it to be
stopped but it could have been very hurtful
on a number of fronts.
The change of address was to a empty address
in a very bad section of the town we live in.
It was also only set up to run on a 
one month basis.
I guess hoping you'd never notice
during your time of grief and chaos.
The postal inspectors have the information
and we hope that they can
catch the people who are responsible, but I feel 
like the chances are very very low.
What I find so awful is how easy it is to do this.
Anyone could easily become a victim to this,
at any time.
There is no way to protect yourself from
this "victimless" crime.
It is a federal offense to commit mail fraud.
But I only bring this up because I think,
very strongly it was from the obituary placed.
That is something anyone can control at the time
of need.
I will never do that again, and I would 
be very careful about what information
was listed in the obituary if it was someone's
wish to have it recorded.

***

In addition to the mail fraud, the people
who perpetrated this also gained access
to his entire ID.
So with that they began opening up
credit cards accounts in his name.
Now we have Identity Theft on
top of Mail Fraud.

***
It's awful that at at time of great sorrow
and confusion someone so evil would prey upon
an 80+ widow. But, my conclusion
has always been that society does prey upon
the weak.
The elderly, children and animals.

***
You can never be too careful,
and even when careful, you can be harmed.

***
My family is indebted to the sharp eye
of our mail carrier who truly was a hero
for us.
So the USPS may have a policy that sucks,
but there are people within the organization
that are heros!
Thank you Kelly!!!

***
Thank you too, all who reached out,
publically and privately.
It meant a great deal to hear
from so many.

32 comments:

  1. How horrible that that happened to your family.

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  2. What an awful thing to have happen to you! Especially when you are still early on in your grief. There are such awful people out there - I'm glad someone looked out for you and pointed out what had happened.

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  3. Your mail carrier is indeed a treasure.
    Some people will look at obituaries(weddings) to find the
    date of the event, then rob the homes.
    There are some very bad people in this world.
    Good thing is that there are even more good people :)
    Purrs Georgia,Julie and JJ

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  4. This is appalling on every level. I'm glad your mail carrier was on the ball and asked - good job on her/his part. I don't know if you require photo ID to put in a change of address in Canada, but if not, that's something that needs to change -- here and in the States.

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  5. That's horrible that that happened to your family-

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  6. That's really awful ! We cannot even imagine how some people can do it ! Thank you for raising awareness about it. Purrs and hugs

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  7. That's awful! I'm so glad Mail Carrier Kelly was on top of things, and made it a point to ask. Thank you for sharing about your experience, so that we are all aware. Hugs and purrs to you.

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  8. You certainly should not have to be going through this. Thank goodness for your kind mail carrier Kelly. Thank you for bringing awareness to this, using your experience to help prevent this from happening to others. Lots of prayers and good thoughts to you!

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  9. That is disgusting and I hate you all are going through this mess.

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  10. How awful. Some humans are really disgusting. Sorry you had to go through this.

    Purrs and hugs
    Athena and Marie xx

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  11. We are so sorry to hear this! Sending all our good thoughts to you and your dear mother.

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  12. Oh my word I had know idea that could be done. I'm so very sorry this happened but thankful for your mail carriers attentiveness.
    Sending hugs to all
    Madi and mom

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  13. I am so sorry this happened to you, and I really do hope that they are able to catch the ones that did this. Very glad the Mail Carrier caught it.

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  14. People are incredible. So glad to hear things were caught before they got worse.

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  15. Debra; I'm sorry to hear this yet I am also happy to hear your mail carrier is "sharp".

    A similar experience happened when my grandfather died, with creditors over the phone.

    Thanx for sharing this and I hope everyone reads and takes to heed; your conclusion is correct. I hope the *%$#@&) are caught; cod only knows how many others they done this too ~~~~~

    ♥♥♥

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  16. That is an awful thing to happen. There really are some evil people around. Thank goodness your mail carrier was on the ball.

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  17. A very important note! My mother and I were on the same mail route and when she died and I put in a change of address for her with the USPS, the next day my mail carrier stopped to tell me he approved it because he knew us both. I'm so thankful someone at USPS checked with the carrier! Glad your carrier was on the ball too!!! So sorry it happened to you and your mom.

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  18. What a terrible thing to have happen! And even more terrible is how easy it was to do it. Something must be changed to make this not so easy.

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  19. That is so scary. Thanks for telling us about it and we are so sorry it all happened to you.Sending lots of hugs.

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  20. I am so sorry Debra. That IS an evil heinous thing to do. They will be reminded and repaid one day.

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  21. My deepest sympathies to you and your family. What an absolute disgusting person to do this. I agree it's a flawed system but what a great catch by the carrier. I can't possibly imagine dealing with this on top of the heartbreak. I hope it can all be resolved as smoothly as possible so your family can properly grieve. Again, so very sorry. Thank you for taking the time to post about this.

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  22. So sorry that happened to you, and we are glad that there was an observant and caring mail carrier who understood something was amiss.

    Hugs to you and tight ones, that was too scary and horrible.

    ((((( ♥ )))))

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  23. That is truly pathetic. If only such people put that much thought and effort into something constructive instead of further hurting people who are already grieving :(

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  24. I've always had verification sent to my old address.

    However, one year, I had a temporary forward for the summer. When the forwarding order expired, the mail was returned to the sender until I saw the carrier.

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  25. OMG that is just awful!!!! Just awful! I am glad it was caught right away. I have heard of thieves robbing homes after death notices and obits were placed....that happens all of the time and is equally as horrific.

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  26. Thank you for making us aware of this. I am glad the mail carrier noticed this. It is sad that there are such awful people in this world to do something so horrid.

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  27. What a horid thing to do. Some people stoop to the bottom of the hoed pile. I amso sorry it happe to a nice person like you. Thank you for sharing so others ca be warned and on the alert. Hugs!

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  28. I'm so sorry this has happened to your mom. This is just awful.

    Years ago when my grandpa passed away, when we were at the funeral home, my mom and grandma were talking about his obituary in the newspaper. The people at the funeral home passionately asked them not to do an obituary because of certain crimes that can result. This was in the early 1990s and I can't remember what they said happens but it was scary enough that my mom and grandma didn't do the obituary even though they had really wanted to. People are always looking to take advantage of others.

    I really hope these people are caught although I realize it's probably a long shot. I also hope there are no more problems for your mom.

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  29. Good for the postman who caught that - and it was sharp of your mum to realise something wasn't right. I would not have thought of such a scam being perpetrated but I suppose, if you think about it, it is a simple and easy one - easy if you have no conscience. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people like that. I'm glad it didn't go too far with your family.

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  30. Wow this is scary for you and horrible that it happened.

    Thank heaven for your USPS person. A real quiet hero.

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