Here's the text of a White House Petition that I just put up, with an idea to reduce mail fraud of the elderly:
Stop mail fraud of the elderly by empowering the Postal Service to pre-screen mail fraud for citizens who so request.
Many elderly people live alone and prefer that. However, a significant number of the elderly become repeat victims of mail fraud, such as cross-border sweepstakes fraud. The idea of this petition is that, just as we all use spam filters on our email, so too we should be able to filter or pre-screen mail fraud mailings from our U.S. Mail. A special category of Postal Inspectors in each local post office should be created and authorized to provide this service for those customers who submit a certified request for this service and who agree to pay a reasonable monthly fee. I for one would gladly pay the Postal Service to stop delivering mail fraud schemes to my elderly mother and elderly aunt. A side benefit would be that the Post Office would not have to deliver all of this trash.
If you agree, sign the petition here:
http://wh.gov/...
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Why is it that we all use spam filters on our email, but we can't filter our U.S. Mail? Why is it that although mail fraud is a federal crime, the U.S. Postal Service is the main vehicle for cross-border fraud schemes that victimize a very significant portion of our elderly?
An experienced businessman I kinow put the issue to me this way:
"There are roughly 39,000,000 seniors over the age of 65. If they get 1 post card a day on average, sent at the lowest possible postal rate, it still adds up to $4M per day. If you add in the 50+ group, then number probably doubles. If the average is really 2 cards per day, the revenue doubles again. Many of the scams are not sent at the lowest rate, so the average revenue is higher. Realistically, the Post Office is making at least $3B per year, and the number could be more than $10B. Imagine what the scammers are making to cover such costs. Imagine what the Post Office would do without the revenue. They are already desperate in terms of funding. Their total revenue in 2011 was $66B. They lose billions every year. It is my belief that they are completely complicit. Someone at the Post Office knows it. I think it is time for a whistleblower and an investigation. This needs to stop."
I don't want to put the Post Office out of business. Instead, I simply propose that the laws be changed to allow them to deliver a new and more sophisticated service: pre-screening mail fraud soliciations out of a customer's mail.
This could be done by a special class of Postal Inspector who would screen the mail if and only if the customer authorized him or her in writing to do so as the customer's agent. Perhaps the mail carrier could take on this duty. Also, the Post Office should be able to charge a reasonable fee for this service, as it will take a little time to sort out the mail fraud, and some unmarked envelopes would need to be opened.
Thus, there would be no immediate reduction of Postal Service revenue, and the Postal Service could actually earn some extra revenue by performing the screening function as the customer's agent.
Read more about cross border lottery fraud here: http://deliveringtrust.com/...