Four Charged In Scheme To Steal Tens Of Millions Of Dollars In Treasury Checks From The Post Office
MIAMI, FL - DECEMBER 14: A City Carrier Assistant to the United States Postal Service works to unload her mail truck at the Processing and Distribution Center after collecting mail for the U.S. Postal Service. (Photo by)
Four Pennsylvania men have been charged in a scheme to steal tens of millions of dollars in government checks. Tauheed Tucker, Cory Scott, and Alexander Telewoda were arrested and charged with conspiracy to steal government funds, theft of government funds, and mail theft. A fourth defendant, Saahir Irby, was charged with these offenses in addition to a previously charged count of mail theft involving another batch of Treasury checks that he allegedly stole and sold in August 2024.
The superseding indictment (a new indictment that replaces a previous one in a criminal case) alleges that, between June 2023 and September 2024, Irby and Tucker, while working as USPS mail processing clerks, stole thousands of envelopes containing U.S. Treasury checks from mail sorting machines at the USPS Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center. Processing and Distribution Centers are one of nine different types of processing facilities—they process and dispatch mail arriving from Post Offices and collection boxes within a specific geographic location.
According to the indictment, Irby and Tucker took the checks from the USPS facility. Specifically, Irby was assigned to machines that processed Treasury checks as 'Return to Sender.' When other USPS employees went on break, Irby and Tucker allegedly took envelopes from the sorting machines and hid them in their clothing and backpacks to smuggle them out to their cars.
The feds allege that Irby and Tucker then sold them to Scott and Telewoda, who then advertised the stolen checks for resale on Telegram, often showing images of the checks. Telegram is a cloud-based messaging platform, similar to iMessage or WhatsApp, that allows users a great deal of privacy and anonymity—for example, messages can be set to disappear. While there are many legitimate users, it has also become known as something of a digital 'dark market' space.
Once Scott and Telewoda received payment from the buyers (often at 10% of the face value of the checks), they would mail the stolen Treasury checks to buyers around the country. Those buyers would then attempt to cash the checks and claim the money.
Over the course of the scheme, the indictment alleges, Irby and Tucker sold Scott and Telewoda thousands of stolen Treasury checks, valued at over $80 million. Scott's and Telewoda's customers were able to cash in approximately $11 million worth of the stolen Treasury checks.
If convicted, Irby faces a maximum possible sentence of 25 years' imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine, and Tucker, Scott, and Telewoda each face a maximum possible sentence of 20 years' imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a $750,000 fine.
Emails to attorneys representing Irby, Tucker and Telewoda seeking comment were not immediately returned. It is unclear from court records whether Scott is currently represented.
This is the second high-profile case in a few months' time. In March, Hachikosela Muchimba, a former U.S. Postal Service employee, was found guilty of stealing checks, including tax refund checks, from customers on his route. Muchimba had been accused of pocketing over $1.6 million in stolen checks.
Although that may feel alarming, your mail is typically safe. The Postal Service provides mail service to almost 153 million customers six days a week with relatively few incidents. Before 2020, mail theft from mail receptacles—such as mailboxes—was primarily perpetrated through forced entry or the use of fishing devices. However, that changed as the Post Office strengthened the physical security of blue collection boxes.
According to a 2023 report, the Postal Service has experienced significant growth in mail theft from mail receptacles. There was an 87% increase in reports of high-volume mail theft from mail receptacles, with 20,574 reports in 2019 and 38,535 reports in 2022. That growth, the agency said, likely has been driven by a marked shift by organized criminal groups towards the perpetration of low-risk, high-reward financial crimes.
At the same time, there was a marked increase in letter carrier robberies—a 543% boost in letter carrier robberies between 2019 and 2022, with 64 letter carrier robberies in 2019 and 412 letter carrier robberies in 2022.
The Postal Service has ramped up efforts to address these spikes in crime. In 2023, there were 4,728 arrests (and 4,103 convictions), primarily focused on crimes involving prohibited mail, mail theft, and assaults and robberies of employees.
In response to concerns over thefts of paper checks (as well as costs and delays), the federal government must stop issuing paper checks by September 30 in favor of direct deposit, prepaid cards, or other digital payment options. That's in line with an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump in March. According to the federal government, historically, Department of the Treasury checks have been 16 times more likely to be reported lost or stolen, returned undeliverable, or altered compared to electronic funds transfers (EFTs).
Last year, 455,601 Americans—about 0.7% of the more than 68 million total recipients—drew Social Security benefits checks.
The numbers are less robust at the IRS. The most recent filing data from the tax agency indicates that approximately 97% of all tax refunds for individual federal income tax returns are issued by direct deposit.
(Despite the push, one group of taxpayers may be out of luck: American taxpayers living abroad. If you live out of the country, your federal income tax refund can only be deposited directly into a U.S. bank or an affiliated account. The Social Security Administration has similar—though a bit more generous—rules for beneficiaries living abroad. You can only direct deposit Social Security payments into a U.S. financial institution or a financial institution in a country with an international direct deposit agreement (a list of these institutions can be found here).
The order also applies to receipts—meaning payments that Americans make to the federal government, like tax payments, too. Agencies, including the Treasury, Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and Veterans Affairs, have been directed to 'expedite requirements' to receive the payment of federal receipts, including fees, fines, loans, and taxes.
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Hamilton Spectator
16 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
A confidential brief to the ICC accuses Russia-linked Wagner of promoting atrocities in West Africa
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Editor's Note: This story contains graphic images and descriptions of atrocities. The International Criminal Court has been asked to review a confidential legal report asserting that the Russia-linked Wagner Group has committed war crimes by spreading images of apparent atrocities in West Africa on social media, including ones alluding to cannibalism, according to the brief seen exclusively by The Associated Press. In the videos, men in military uniform are shown butchering corpses of what appear to be civilians with machetes, hacking out organs and posing with severed limbs. One fighter says he is about to eat someone's liver. Another says he is trying to remove their heart. Violence in the Sahel, an arid belt of land south of the Sahara Desert, has reached record levels as military governments battle extremist groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Turning from Western allies like the United States and France, the governments in Mali , Burkina Faso and Niger have instead embraced Russia and its mercenary fighters as partners in offensives. Observers say the new approach has led to the kind of atrocities and dehumanization not seen in the region for decades. Social media offers a window into the alleged horrors that often occur in remote areas with little or no oversight from governments or outside observers. Experts say the images, while difficult to verify, could serve as evidence of war crimes. The confidential brief to the ICC goes further, arguing that the act of circulating the images on social media could constitute a war crime, too. It is the first such argument made to the international court. 'Wagner has deftly leveraged information and communications technologies to cultivate and promote its global brand as ruthless mercenaries. Their Telegram network in particular, which depicts their conduct across the Sahel, serves as a proud public display of their brutality,' said Lindsay Freeman, director of the Technology, Law & Policy program at the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law. Under the Rome Statute that created the ICC, the violation of personal dignity, mainly through humiliating and degrading treatment, constitutes a war crime. Legal experts from UC Berkeley, who submitted the brief to the ICC last year, argue that such treatment could include Wagner's alleged weaponization of social media. 'The online distribution of these images could constitute the war crime of outrages on personal dignity and the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts for psychologically terrorizing the civilian population,' Freeman said. She said there is legal precedent in some European courts for charging the war crime of outrages on personal dignity based predominantly on social media evidence. The brief asks the ICC to investigate individuals with Wagner and the governments of Mali and Russia for alleged abuses in northern and central Mali between December 2021 and July 2024, including extrajudicial killings, torture, mutilation and cannibalism. It also asks the court to investigate crimes 'committed through the internet, which are inextricably linked to the physical crimes and add a new dimension of harm to an extended group of victims.' The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC said their investigations have focused on alleged war crimes committed since January 2012, when insurgents seized communities in Mali's northern regions of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu. The ICC told the AP it could not comment on the brief but said it was aware of 'various reports of alleged massive human rights violations in other parts of Mali,' adding that it 'follows closely the situation.' Wagner did not respond to questions about the videos. World's deadliest region for terrorism, think tank says As the world largely focuses on wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, the Sahel has become the deadliest place on earth for extremism. Half of the world's nearly 8,000 victims of terrorism were killed across the territory last year, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, which compiles yearly data. While the U.S. and other Western powers withdraw from the region, Russia has taken advantage, expanding military cooperation with several African nations via Wagner, the private security company . The network of mercenaries and businesses is closely linked to Russia's intelligence and military, and the U.S. State Department has described it as 'a transnational criminal organization.' Since Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash in 2023, Moscow has been developing a new organization, the Africa Corps, as a rival force under direct command of Russian authorities. Earlier this month, Wagner announced its withdrawal from Mali, declaring 'mission accomplished' in a Telegram post. In a separate Telegram post, Africa Corps said it is staying. In Mali, about 2,000 Russian mercenaries are fighting alongside the country's armed forces, according to U.S. officials. It is unclear how many have been with Wagner or are with the Africa Corps. Both the Russian mercenaries and local military allies have shared bloody imagery on social media to claim battlefield wins, observers say. 'The mutilation of civilians and combatants by all sides is disturbing enough,' said Corinne Dufka, a Sahel expert and the former head of Human Rights Watch in the region. 'But the dissemination of these scenes on social media further elevates the depravity and suggests a growing and worrying level of dehumanization is taking root in the Sahel.' The confidential brief, along with AP reporting, shows that a network of social media channels, likely administrated by current or former Wagner members, has reposted content that the channels say are from Wagner fighters, promoting videos and photos appearing to show abuses by armed, uniformed men, often accompanied by mocking or dehumanizing language. While administrators of the channels are anonymous, open source analysts believe they are current or former Wagner fighters based on the content as well as graphics used, including in some cases Wagner's logo. AP analysis of the videos confirms the body parts shown are genuine, as well as the military uniforms. The videos and photos, in a mix of French and local languages, aim to humiliate and threaten those considered the enemies of Wagner and its local military allies, along with civilian populations whose youth face pressure to join extremist groups. But experts say it often has the opposite effect, prompting reprisal attacks and recruitment into the ranks of jihadis. If the videos aim to deter and terrorize, it's working, some in Mali say. The ones appearing to show atrocities committed by Malian soldiers 'caused a psychological shock in the Fulani community,' a representative of the nomadic community's civil society told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The Fulani are often caught in the middle of the fight against extremism, the focus of violence from both government forces and extremists, and of jihadi recruitment. Thousands of Fulani have fled to neighboring countries in fear of being victimized, the representative said, and asserted that at least 1,000 others disappeared last year after encountering Mali's army or allied militias, including Wagner. Condemnation and investigations In July last year, a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel reposted three videos of what appeared to be Mali's armed forces and the Dozo hunters, a local defense group often fighting alongside them, committing apparent abuses that allude to cannibalism. One video shows a man in the uniform of Mali's armed forces cooking what he says are body parts. Another shows a man dressed as a Dozo hunter cutting into a human body, saying he is about to eat the liver. In a third video, a group of Dozo fighters roasts what appears to be a human torso. One man carves off a hunk of flesh and tosses it to another. Mali's army ordered an investigation into the viral videos, which were removed from X for violating the platform's rules and put behind a paywall on Telegram. The army chief described it as 'rare atrocity' which was not aligned with the nation's military values, and 'competent services' would confirm and identify the perpetrators. It was not clear whether anyone was identified. A video apparently from Burkina Faso, shared on X the same month, showed an armed man in military pants and sleeveless shirt dancing, holding a severed hand and foot, at one point grinning as the foot dangled from his teeth. In another, a man in Burkinabe military uniform cuts through what appears to be a human body. He says: 'Good meat indeed. We are Cobra 2.' Another man is heard saying: 'This is BIR 15. BIR 15 always does well its job, by all means. Fatherland or death, we shall win.' BIR 15 Cobra 2 is the name of a special intervention unit created by Burkina Faso's ruler, Ibrahim Traore, to combat extremists. 'Fatherland or death' is the motto of pro-government forces. The videos were removed from X and put behind a paywall on Telegram. Burkina Faso's army condemned the videos' 'macabre acts' and described them as 'unbearable images of rare cruelty.' The army said it was working to identify those responsible, adding that it 'distances itself from these inhumane practices.' It was not clear whether anyone has been identified. Other posts shared by alleged Wagner-affiliated channels include images of what appear to be mutilated corpses and beheaded, castrated and dismembered bodies of people, including ones described as extremist fighters, often accompanied with mocking commentary. One post shows two white men in military attire with what appears to be a human roasting on a spit, with the caption: 'The meat you hunt always tastes better,' along with an emoji of a Russian flag. It is hard to know at what scale cannibalism might occur in the context of warfare in the Sahel, and actual cases are 'likely rare,' said Danny Hoffman, chair in international studies at the University of Washington. But 'the real force of these stories comes from the fascination and fear they create,' Hoffman said of the videos, with the digital age making rumors of violence even more widespread and effective. 'Whether it is Wagner or local fighters or political leaders, being associated with cannibalism or ritual killings or mutilations is being associated with an extreme form of power,' he said. Some of the graphic posts have been removed. Other content was moved behind a paywall. Telegram told the AP in a statement: 'Content that encourages violence is explicitly forbidden by Telegram's terms of service and is removed whenever discovered. Moderators empowered with custom AI and machine learning tools proactively monitor public parts of the platform and accept reports in order to remove millions of pieces of harmful content each day.' It did not say whether it acts on material behind a paywall. 'White Uncles in Africa' The Telegram channel White Uncles in Africa has emerged as the leading source of graphic imagery and dehumanizing language from the Sahel, reposting all the Mali videos. UC Berkeley experts and open source analysts believe it is administered by current or former Wagner members, but they have not been able to identify them. While the channel re-posts images from subscribers, it also posts original content. In May of this year, the channel posted a photo of eight bodies of what appeared to be civilians, face-down on the ground with hands bound, with the caption: 'The white uncles found and neutralized a breeding ground for a hostile life form.' It also shared an image of a person appearing to be tortured, with the caption describing him as a 'hostile life form' being taken 'for research.' Human Rights Watch has documented atrocities committed in Mali by Wagner and other armed groups. It says accountability for alleged abuses has been minimal, with the military government reluctant to investigate its armed forces and Russian mercenaries. It has become difficult to obtain detailed information on alleged abuses because of the Malian government's 'relentless assault against the political opposition, civil society groups, the media and peaceful dissent,' said Ilaria Allegrozzi, the group's Sahel researcher. That has worsened after a U.N. peacekeeping mission withdrew from Mali in December 2023 at the government's request. That void, she said, 'has eased the way for further atrocities' — and left social media as one of the best ways to glimpse what's happening on the ground. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
Ukraine warns teenagers the enemy is inside their phones
Advertisement Think of this class, in a secondary school in the western city of Lviv, as the Ukrainian version of 'Scared Straight.' The course, introduced this spring by Ukraine's top internal security agency and the national police at high schools nationwide, aims to deter teenagers from falling under the influence of Russian operatives. They have started paying Ukrainian minors to set fires or plant homemade bombs, Ukrainian authorities say. 'I remind you that criminal responsibility in Ukraine begins at 14 years of age,' said the camouflaged man at the presentation on a recent Wednesday. 'Unfortunately, this easy money can lead either to criminal liability or to death.' For more than a year, Ukrainian authorities say, the Russian state security agency, known as the FSB, has targeted Ukrainian teenagers on social media apps like Telegram, TikTok and Discord. They are offered hundreds or even thousands of dollars to do simple tasks: Deliver a package. Take a photograph of a power substation. Spray graffiti. Advertisement The FSB did not respond to a request for comment for this article. Many young people do not necessarily know they are being recruited. The Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, says the teenagers often just search for 'easy money' on Telegram, where the Russians are waiting for them. But some agree to more complicated missions, often because they were blackmailed for the first task they performed, or for compromising photographs hacked from their phones. The SBU said late last month that authorities had accused more than 600 people of trying to commit arson, terrorism or sabotage in Ukraine after being recruited by Russian intelligence services. Of those, about 1 in 4 were minors. (The adults often had criminal records or a history of drug abuse.) One perpetrator was only 13. In May, the head of the national juvenile police said in a TV interview that almost 50 other children had reported to authorities that Russians had tried to recruit them. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, both sides have engaged in clandestine warfare. Ukraine has recruited people in Russia for targeted high-level killings, law enforcement sources said. For instance, the Ukrainians claimed responsibility for assassinating a top Russian general and his aide with a bomb planted in a scooter in December. But with the recruitment of young Ukrainians, the Russians are taking a new step by aiming for more indiscriminate attacks, near military recruitment centers or railway stations, said Roksolana Yavorska-Isaienko, an SBU spokesperson for the Lviv region. It is reminiscent of how teenagers were used as suicide bombers in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. Advertisement In December, the news in Ukraine was filled with reports of a significant case. The SBU and the national police detained two groups of teenagers in the eastern city of Kharkiv who they said had been tricked online into joining a fake 'quest' game, in which the 15- and 16-year-olds were sent tasks like setting fires and taking photographs and videos of certain targets, even air defenses. Ukrainian authorities said the Russians used the information to carry out airstrikes in Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city. These claims could not be independently verified. During the class, the camouflaged agent and Yavorska-Isaienko went through other examples, one by one. In March, in the case that resonated the most with the students, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old were recruited on Telegram in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk with the promise of $1,700, Ukrainian authorities said. Following instructions, the teenagers built two bombs out of thermos flasks and metal nuts. When they tried to deliver one of the bombs, authorities said, Russian agents detonated it remotely near the train station. The 17-year-old was killed, and the 15-year-old lost his legs. In April, the SBU caught a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old who burned train relay boxes in Lviv. They were recruited on Telegram, authorities said. Searches of their cellphones showed text messages between the teenagers and their Russian handlers. 'Yeah, the money will be there tomorrow,' the handler wrote, adding that it would arrive around lunchtime. 'Got it, bro,' one of the teenagers responded. Eventually, about $178 was transferred to his account. And in May -- just three days before the class -- two teenagers in the western city of Rivne made an explosive device from Russian instructions, put it in an abandoned building, positioned an ax there and covered the whole contraption with paint, authorities said. Then they called emergency services, claiming there was a dead person. After the police responded, the bomb exploded, but no one was harmed. The teenagers were arrested. Advertisement The recent class was about the 200th that the agency has done in the Lviv region since the outreach program started in April. The presenters knew how to hold the teenagers' attention. 'Maybe not all of these special operations are reported in the media -- but believe me, the enemy is not sleeping,' Yavorska-Isaienko said. 'They are working actively and carrying out illegal activities, as strange as it may sound, directly inside your phones.' She added, 'And when you hear an offer to earn quick money for a brand-new iPhone or $1,000, of course, it sounds very tempting. Sometimes, the task is disguised as a simple courier delivery, taking pictures of critical infrastructure or spraying provocative graffiti. That is often the first step toward your recruitment.' This classroom in the Lviv secondary school No. 32 resembled a typical science classroom in the United States, complete with creaky wooden floors; a poster of a tiger on the wall; models of DNA and lungs in the back; and teenagers in hoodies and jeans, heavy-metal T-shirts and a Barbie sweater. But these students did not make jokes or whisper the way many teenagers do. They asked questions: How did the Russians do surveillance? How could they help fight the FSB? These students had grown up with the war against Russia. Relatives were fighting on the front lines. One girl's uncle was missing. Advertisement 'Can I help and report it to the security services if I've already been approached for recruitment?' asked Volodia Sozonyk, 17, a boy in a blue hoodie and a manga T-shirt. 'If they've sent me an address or something I need to do, can I identify that spot for your operatives to help?' Yavorska-Isaienko and the camouflaged man told the students they could anonymously report any recruitment attempts to a new chatbot called 'Expose the FSB Agent.' And Yavorska-Isaienko told the students to use their common sense. 'No one in real life will suddenly offer you $1,000 or $2,000 just like that,' she said. 'You need to understand: The only free cheese is in the mousetrap.' This article originally appeared in
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Los Angeles Times
Belarus frees key opposition figure Siarhei Tsikhanouski after U.S. envoy visit
TALLINN, Estonia — Belarus has freed Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a key dissident and the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, following a rare visit by a senior U.S. official, Tsikhanouskaya's team announced on Saturday. Tsikhanouski, a popular blogger and activist who was jailed in 2020, arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, alongside 13 other political prisoners, his wife's team said. The release came hours after Belarusian authorities announced that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko met with President Trump's envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, in the capital of Minsk. A video published on his wife's official Telegram account showed Tsikhanouski disembarking a white minibus, with a shaved head and broad smile. He pulled Tsikhanouskaya into a long embrace as their supporters applauded. 'My husband is free. It's difficult to describe the joy in my heart,' Tsikhanouskaya told reporters. But she added that her team's work is 'not finished,' as more than 1,100 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus. Tsikhanouski was jailed after announcing plans to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 election. Following his arrest, his wife ran in his stead, rallying large crowds across the country. Official results of the election handed Lukashenko his sixth term in office but were denounced by the opposition and the West as a sham. As unprecedented protests broke out in the aftermath of the vote, Tsikhanouskaya left the country under pressure from the authorities. Her husband was later sentenced to 19½ years in prison on charges of organizing mass riots. Other prominent dissidents remain in Belarusian jails, among them Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, a human rights advocate serving a 10-year prison sentence on charges widely denounced as politically motivated. Also behind bars is Viktor Babaryka, a former banker who was widely seen in 2020 as Lukashenko's main electoral rival, and Maria Kolesnikova, a charismatic leader of that year's mass protests. Released alongside Tsikhanouski was longtime Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Ihar Karnei, the U.S. government-funded broadcaster confirmed. Karnei, who had also worked with prominent Belarusian and Russian newspapers, had been serving a three-year service on extremism charges he rejected as a sham. RFE/RL's Belarusian service had been designated extremist in the country, a common label assigned to anyone who criticizes Lukashenko's government. As a result, working for it or spreading its content has become a criminal offense. 'We are deeply grateful to President Trump for securing the release of this brave journalist, who suffered at the hands of the Belarusian authorities,' the broadcaster's chief executive, Stephen Capus, said Saturday in a news release. Karnei was detained several times while covering the 2020 protests. Unlike many of his colleagues, he chose to stay in Belarus despite the ensuing repression. He was arrested again in July 2023, as police raided his apartment, seizing phones and computers. Belarus also freed an Estonian national who had set up a nongovernmental organization to raise funds for Belarusian refugees. According to the Estonian Foreign Ministry, Allan Roio was detained in January and sentenced to 6½ years in prison on charges of establishing an extremist organization.
