Taking Down a Big Apple Bling Ring

Tap. Swipe. Beep.

If you were standing right there, eyeing the registers, none of the ebbs and flows of customers buying luxury goods would seem unusual: high-end jewelry, designer handbags and shoes, the latest couture.

But on the other side of security cameras, trained eyes were watching.

In December 2019, the Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) contacted the USPS OIG Office of Investigations about a case it started earlier that year. Postal inspectors had received a complaint from one of the country’s largest credit card issuers after a substantial number of fraudulent purchases were made at luxury retailers in New York City. Whoever was running the scheme wasn’t acting alone and had a steady stream of stolen credit cards: over 1,000 had been fraudulently used, would-be cardholders were outraged, and the estimated losses were over $2 million.

Corporate fraud investigators already identified several individuals who were activating the stolen cards. The joint investigation helped put faces to the names after several “shoppers” were captured on security cameras at various luxury retailers. One of them had all the trappings of a ringleader, and a search warrant later turned up evidence linking him to several fraud accounts and about $64,000 in losses. Now it was time to root out the source of the stolen cards.

It was clear the credit cards used never reached their intended recipients after the issuer put them in the mail. Our special agents found their disappearance from the mailstream wasn’t random — patterns they identified pointed to postal employee collusion not just in New York, but also in Virginia.

Working alongside the USPIS and NYPD, our special agents executed a search warrant at the ringleader’s home, where they found a stockpile of incriminating evidence: two loaded firearms, multiple cell phones, credit cards belonging to many victims, stolen mail, high-end watches and jewelry, designer handbags, and a white 2020 Lamborghini. He was arrested and charged with grand larceny, identity theft, and firearms possession.

From there, the scheme came undone. Our special agents identified and arrested four postal workers who the ringleader had recruited to steal credit cards from the mail. They had been stealing as many as 20 credit cards a day and handing them over to him and other co-conspirators.

Five other arrests happened at the same time: three “shoppers” who the ringleader instructed to buy items that could later be resold or returned for store credit, and the owners of a jewelry store used in the scheme.

The latter duo allegedly processed fictitious transactions using the store’s merchant card processing accounts. All 10 were charged with various crimes, including identity theft and conspiracy.

The government successfully handled all the criminal investigations associated with the case, and the now-defunct bling ring faces restitution of potentially $1.6 million. Our special agents’ and their partners’ work in securing the convictions of this criminal organization has helped protect the integrity of the mail for many postal customers and financial institutions.

If you suspect or know of mail or identity theft involving Postal Service employees or contractors, please report it to our Hotline.