nivekious

Great thanks!

Dockdogs

HMMM, wonder when this changed?? last time i tried this at 4 local PO's. All were denied when swiping VVDC. (that was maybe a year or so ago.)

Phantom707

In the thread on where to buy money orders using prepaid debit cards, people started questioning and posting about USPS. The posts began around summer, probably August but maybe a little earlier.

Falimz

I started when Redbird shut down and I was stuck with a bunch of Vanilla VGCs to unload.

hamokmonky

For all the naysayers that responded to this post with sheer disbelief and called it absurdity...

You clearly weren't around in the MS world years ago when the PO played bigger roles in MS. I personally have been, and know, people who have been investigated by the PO for doing absolutely nothing wrong. It is no joke. And it wont come now, or probably even a few months from now. It'll come a year from now, likely when you've already done tons of 'damage' and they have what they believe to be a huge case against you. They will have pictures and paperwork and lots and lot of history on your deposits. It will certainly be no joke when you spend weeks trying to resolve all of their questions for what you believe to be innocent "small volume". And if they even think you are lying about any small detail it will turn into a much bigger deal. Good luck to all. There are entire departments of people that look at this kind of stuff, and no your 10K in money orders a month is NOT too small for them.

Phantom707

I feel like this is a shot at me, so I'll defend myself. I never said that the post office won't investigate suspicious activity. That wasn't me. That was other people. I just reported on my own experience. And yes, I keep records of all of my transactions.

Mamibear

Word

I'm sure many will just brush it off until they find themselves target of PIs (postal inspectors) and only then will they realize, it's too late! Hindsight is always 20/20, it is best not to MS using USPS.

hamokmonky

It wasn't a shot at you. Theres clearly a lot of people in this thread that think its all a joke and itll never happen to them and they are small potatoes when it comes to real fraudsters. To provide a little insight, of the investigations I am aware of, they all happened sub 50K of activity over 1-2 years. Its great you keep records, and you should, and itll help, but it wont deter anything except being actually charged in the end.

ronnyk

Whatever... I think all of this talk puts the emphasis on the wrong thing or, conversely, ignores the one commonality across all MS: the behavior is suspicious no matter where it is done. Be it at grocery stores, banks, Walmart, wherever.

Most people don't buy gift cards, RLs, MOs, etc. at a rate of thousands of dollars per day. Period. Most people don't deposit at the bank thousands in MOs payable to, and signed by, themselves, each week. The stores keep their logs; banks instruct their people to report suspicious behavior. Hell, I was standing behind a real creep at a grocery store a couple of weeks ago who had just bought $3000 in VGCs and then walked over to customer service and unwrapped each one as he bought six $499.35 MOs, the whole time acting very strangely. The store called the police on him, as apparently he had done the same thing twice a day for three days in a row.

The banks have comprehensive records and I'm sure that a call placed by bank security to the right FBI agent can have the same pain-in-the-... effect as a Postal Inspector's investigation. We're all exposed to this risk.

At the end of the day, I don't fool myself into believing that if I avoid just that "one thing," somehow I am better off or that I am reducing my risk of being questioned. I take some solace in the fact that I am not doing anything illegal and I believe at the end of the day the truth about my actual activities will be borne out if ever scrutinized. Though I am not so sure the IRS would agree with that first part.

PaulMSN

There are clearly people in this thread who are willing to declare it will happen, not a doubt, it's inevitable, when all they are doing is speculating. Declaring it in absolute terms without actual proof does not make them more believable.

And without the details of those claimed investigations, no one knows whether they have any applicability to this situation. The devil is in the details.

nivekious

Does this include people making the MOs out to the CC company rather than cashing them themselves? I see no reason it should be suspicious to buy a few MOs a month to pay bills.

For the record the only reason I'd risk going with the PO is that all the WM and every grocery chain I've tried (no Kroger in my area unfortunately) are very strictly cash only or else ID/debit match.

hamokmonky

Sure, feel free to believe whatever you want, I'm just providing my own data points. I would not feel comfortable discussing details of investigations, even my own, on a public forum to people I don't know and the rest of the world. I don't think anyone in their right mind would provide that kind of detail here. So believe me, or don't. There are others here that have mentioned being investigated. None of us did anything wrong, and a lot of us didn't do any significant volume of financial transactions with the post office. If that's not enough for you then nothing is going to be. I'm sure if we provided details you would find something minor in the details that you are not doing and therefore deem yourself correct, as you usually do, and therefore not at any risk.

Not that I'm aware of, but I do believe you put your credit accounts at risk doing that often.

You are clearly missing the point that the USPS is at such a significant increased risk over other methods. Sure, avoiding that "one thing" wont eliminate your risk, but it will significantly reduce it. Clearly also missing how much work is involved in dealing with an investigation. It kind of takes all the gained profits out of the scenario.

ronnyk

Small sample size much? I don't take issue with someone reporting their experience (or someone else's experience, provided they identify it for the hearsay that it is), but just stop the finger-wagging as if it is a foregone conclusion that what happened to you will happen to everyone else and so, therefore, they should stay away from the PO.

hamokmonky

Feel free point to where I said that this will happen to everyone. I don't have a small sample size, but my samples didn't come from FT. Also no where did I say anyone should stay away from the PO. Infact, I believe I said feel free to continue. The only thing I am claiming that you seem to have a problem with (other than the things you think I said that I didnt) is that the PO has increased risk for issues in relation to other avenues. And that those issues are more time consuming to resolve. Its all statistics but my sample shows that statement to be true without a doubt.

ronnyk

Are you really serious with the semantics argument? The tone of the posts from you and a couple of others has been of the "woe unto you" variety for doubting what will happen if you purchase MOs at the PO, regardless of how little the volume.

Your lecturing-- which is what it is-- is based on a small sample size. How do I know? Because you have absolutely no idea of how many people have purchased for MS purposes generally. I respect that you do not want to share the facts of your experience with others on a public form. But stick to the facts that you can relate, and let others draw their own conclusions from them. It's as if you are unhappy that others disagree with your conclusions and opinions which-- in the absence of an abundance of facts-- is all they are.