Thread

U.S. postal inspectors shut down website selling counterfeit postage labels

281 points · 169 comments · ilamont

HarHarVeryFunny · 1790713300 · focus · HN ↗
So the USPS delivered these packages?
There's no verification built into a USPS label?
1. stackskipton · 1790713716 · focus · HN ↗
  Possibly. Sometimes delivery companies find it easier to just deliver them attempting to return to sender and dealing with headache of customer complaints since while it should have been clear to people buying the labels that they were not legit, a lot of people would be like "HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW? I WANT MY MONEY BACK!"
  Yes there is verification. Sometimes the label WAS valid but it was purchased with stolen credit card OR purchased then refunded after delivery to the client but before it entered the postal stream.
  EDIT: Remember, boxes can be dropped off before someone processes them. Just hand them random postal carrier OR put them in postal pickup box.
  1. bragr · 1790719062 · focus · HN ↗
    You can only ship packages from post offices now or by scheduling pickup. Too much darknet drugs I guess. You can drop them in a bin at the post office, but you still have to go in and get on camera.
    celticninja · 1790720282 · focus · HN ↗
    Surely most drugs could be sold in small enough envelopes that you don't need parcel postage. I know when I was using DNMs most packages were a simple large letter stamp stamp which covers 35.3cm x 25cm x 2.5cm and a maximum weight of 750g. So I doubt dark net drug orders would have been the trigger for this sort of change.
    pocksuppet · 1790720675 · focus · HN ↗
    As long as Congress thinks drugs are shipped in giant parcels, it doesn't matter how drugs are actually shipped.
    saalweachter · 1790728614 · focus · HN ↗
    As long as increasing the friction of shipping through USPS raises the stock prices of delivery companies Congressmen hold stock in--
    cjbgkagh · 1790734422 · focus · HN ↗
    As a consumer of black market peptides (formerly gray, thanks RFK) there doesn’t seem much of an attempt to hide it nor does it appear that anyone is intercepting them. The only package I lost was due to the LA Railroad heists.
    supertrope · 1790742010 · focus · HN ↗
    Bombs or anthrax are probably a bigger security concern than illegal drugs.
    Loudergood · 1790734902 · focus · HN ↗
    Most priority mail boxes can be dropped in a blue bin depending on how heavy they are.
    [deleted] · 1790741971 · focus · HN ↗
    [deleted]
    mike50 · 1790895344 · focus · HN ↗
    <a href="https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2019/pb22530/html/updt_003.htm" rel="nofollow">https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2019/pb22530/html/upd...
2. roachman · 1790713843 · focus · HN ↗
  they are real labels, im fairly sure. but they are generated fraudulently, likely via stolen credentials on various shipping providers with USPS api
  1. rafram · 1790714697 · focus · HN ↗
    They're completely counterfeit, not real but generated fraudulently. This article has an example: <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/nullship-selling-counterfeit-postal-labels-freightwaves-investigation-finds" rel="nofollow">https://www.freightwaves.com/news/nullship-selling-counterfe...
    zucked · 1790716548 · focus · HN ↗
    This article has some inconsistencies with what I experienced. For example, my label absolutely had tracking before being intercepted. In fact, it made it all the way to my city's distribution center.
    <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/nullship-selling-counterfeit-postal-labels-freightwaves-investigation-finds#:~:text=%E2%80%9CCounterfeit%20shipping%20labels,not%20paid%20for.%E2%80%9D" rel="nofollow">https://www.freightwaves.com/news/nullship-selling-counterfe...
    Here's the trajectory. Note that the final status has updated to no longer say "counterfeit" it's now just "postage assessment".
    ----- Delayed for postage assessment, Item in transit to destination
    August 13, 2026 5:44 AM
    Departed USPS Facility
    JERSEY CITY NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER
    August 11, 2026 2:08 PM
    Delayed for postage assessment, held awaiting payment
    August 10, 2026 9:21 PM
    Arrived at USPS Facility
    JERSEY CITY NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER
    August 10, 2026 4:53 PM
    In Transit to Next Facility
    August 10, 2026 6:24 AM
    In Transit to Next Facility
    August 9, 2026 7:13 PM
    Departed USPS Facility
    MYTOWN DISTRIBUTION CENTER
    August 9, 2026 8:18 AM
    Arrived at USPS Facility
    MYTOWN DISTRIBUTION CENTER
    August 9, 2026 1:28 AM
    Departed USPS Facility
    MYTOWN DISTRIBUTION CENTER
    August 8, 2026 10:30 AM
    Delayed for postage assessment, held awaiting payment
    August 7, 2026 6:29 PM
    In Transit to Next Facility
    August 7, 2026 9:14 AM
    Arrived at USPS Facility
    MYTOWN DISTRIBUTION CENTER
    August 7, 2026 7:17 AM
    In Transit to Next Facility
    August 6, 2026 7:04 AM
    In Transit to Next Facility
    August 5, 2026 5:53 PM
    Departed USPS Facility
    OPA LOCKA FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER
    August 5, 2026 4:46 AM
    Arrived at USPS Facility
    OPA LOCKA FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER
    August 4, 2026 2:33 PM
    mjmas · 1790719990 · focus · HN ↗
    I'm not sure how it works with USPS, but with AusPost here, there is generally an entry at the very start saying 'Label created'.
  2. happyopossum · 1790714721 · focus · HN ↗
    If they were real labels the charge wouldn’t be Counterfeiting.
    dawnerd · 1790718151 · focus · HN ↗
    They can still be real tracking numbers, but faked labels. USPS used to let a lot slide but they've definitely gotten more aggressive with catching packages even slightly out of spec of what the label was for.
3. zucked · 1790713943 · focus · HN ↗
  This report alludes to (but IIRC stop short) of confirming that there is only validation at the designated ports of entry scans. <a href="https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2026-04/25-072-3-r26.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2026-04/...
  My suspicion is that these labels are entering the mailstream somehow circumventing the "first" scan.
4. tecleandor · 1790724268 · focus · HN ↗
  I'm not in front of my computer so I can't query our fraud documents right now (I work in that business), but I recall quite some different schemes, a bit of everything:
  Really forged labels, reusing old tracking numbers and that kind of things... Hijacking Mailer IDs and/or USPS API keys... And of course, hijacking accounts of USPS resellers. An e-commerce/retailer/whatever that uses an USPS reseller API for getting all kind of labels get hacked, and its API keys are used for generating a hundred thousand labels to be resold in eBay.
5. mdpye · 1790756967 · focus · HN ↗
  There is not. And any ecommerce site providing usps labels on their own usps account is constantly dealing with a flow of fraudulently printed labels which "borrowed" their account indicator, leading to usps invoicing the account holder for labels they didn't issue.
6. [deleted] · 1790774002 · focus · HN ↗
  [deleted]

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