[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 12, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    AN EASY WAY TO REDUCE MAIL FRAUD

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                          HON. BRUCE F. VENTO

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 12, 1996

  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation, the 
Mail Fraud Prevention Act, which will serve to increase the security of 
mail delivery for every individual who relies on the services of the 
U.S. Postal Service [USPS].
  Current policies at the USPS allow an individual or household to 
change their address, and therefore forward their mail, to a new 
location simply by filling out a form and submitting it to the USPS. 
The forms can even be mailed to the postal service. This policy 
certainly makes service delivery more fluid for the estimated 42 
million individuals or households who move and file mail forwarding 
orders each year. That convenience, however, has a price. That price 
may well be the security of personal and financial information 
delivered by the USPS to individuals and families across the Nation.
  Because the USPS does not verify that the person submitting the 
forwarding order actually resides at the original address before 
processing the order and rerouting mail, criminals can fraudulently 
forward another individual or household's mail to a new address. The 
only information needed to submit a fraudulent forwarding order is the 
old address and a signature, which can be forged since the USPS does 
not check the identity of the individual at the time it accepts the 
completed form.
  This policy gives criminals easy access to vital personal and 
financial information of every USPS customer, virtually every houshold 
in the Nation. Once bank account, credit card, or Social Security 
numbers fall into the hands of the thieves, it does not take long for 
them to drain finances and destroy credit histories that tool a 
lifetime of fiscal planning and saving to build. The USPS estimates 
that 1,000 people annually are victimized by this form of postal fraud.
  To the credit of the USPS, they do eventually attempt to verify mail 
forwarding orders; however, this action comes only after the mail has 
been rerouted. The USPS mails letters to both addresses, new and old, 
telling residents that a forwarding order has been processed in their 
name. The flaw in this system, however, is that in the days or weeks it 
takes to send these verification notices, mail flows to the new 
address, sending sensitive and valuable information into the hands of 
the fraudulent filers.
  The USPS has a responsibility to provide the highest level of 
security to its customers, and current policy regarding changes in 
address clearly ignores that responsibility. That is why I am 
introducing this legislation on the issue. This measure would require 
the USPS to check the identification of indivudals submitting change of 
address forms at the time the form is submitted, before mail is 
rerouted. Only forms that are submitted by residents of the original 
address will be processed.
  There is an exception for homebound individuals and others who would 
have a difficult time getting to a USPS branch to submit the form, 
although the bill requires the USPS to develop policies to increase the 
security of these individuals' mail delivery as well. By verifying an 
individual's identity before mail is actually forwarded, criminals have 
less opportunity to access personal or financial information. With so 
many personal and financial documents being sent through the mail in 
today's society, we must ensure that these documents are as safe as we 
can make them. This legislation would take a large bite out of postal 
fraud crime and go a long way in increasing the security of mailed 
documents and information.

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