Saw this on Anandtech's forums (lots of people there got burned)...

I *'ed out the email address, if you need it email me.


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Got this today...

UNITED STATES POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE
PORTLAND, ME



615-1364989 FB-1


December 6, 2002


Dear Sir/Madam,

The Maine Attorney General has referred a number of complaints concerning a Maine based internet company called Cyberwings to our office.
The complaints allege that Cyberwings offered web hosting services and after being paid failed to supply the contracted service as promised. At the present time we are conducting an investigation to see if Cyberwings may have violated the Mail Fraud and/or Wire Fraud Statutes. Your e-mail address appears on correspondence forwarded to our office by the Attorney General.

In order to assist us in our inquiry, would you be so kind as to complete the survey which is attached to this e-mail and return it to me at *******@uspis.gov. If you have e-mail from Cyberwings, could you please copy it and send it to me at either the e-mail address or at P. O. Box 1907, Portland, ME 04104-1907. If you paid by check, please send me a copy of the check.

The fact that this letter is being sent or that an inquiry is being made in no way reflects on the character or reputation of any individual or business, nor should it be construed as an expression of opinion on the part of the U.S. Postal inspection Service or any other law enforcement agency that any violation of law has occurred.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.




K. J. Stack
Postal Inspector
*******@uspis.gov

Uh oh... sounds like trouble for cyberwings! It's about time too. I just wish more fraudulent hosts got the attention of law enforcement agencies...

Originally posted by mpope
Uh oh... sounds like trouble for cyberwings! It's about time too. I just wish more fraudulent hosts got the attention of law enforcement agencies...

yup, actually all it takes is one complaint to the attorney general they really do look into these things.

Excellent, naysayers unite.

I knew that July statement about the US Marshalls had some truth in it. All I want for Christmas is a photo of CEO Shawn with some numbers in front.

This is wonderful news... :D:agree:

Very cool indeed!

I hate to say it, but that letter looks fake.
For one, a PostMaster's address is always
Post Master
NameOfCity, State
zip
The last time I addressed a postmaster, it was NOT to a PO box.
This would make me think the Postal Inspector's address would be:
Postal Inspector
NameOfCity, State
zip
Secondly, the website www.uspis.gov does not exist. Although, I have seen domains used for email that didn't have a website, but lets just say it is suspious.
Third, do NOT send this person a copy of your check if you paid by check. If this is only an investigation, and not one that you initiated, you do not need to provide proof that you did business with them.
I'd take that letter down to the post office myself and show them, or call the Post Office, and ask if the Postal Inspector uses that PO box first, before answering anything. Then if it checks out, I'd give them only the amount of money you paid and whether or not services were satisfactorily provided or not. There should be no need to provide details of transactions at this time. Wait until they supeona the details.

It may be Shawn with a fake Letter, I wouldn't put it past him, You Never Know!

Well it doesn't say Postmaster, it says postal inspector, but other things don't appear right on 2nd look. Can someone please lookup the uspis.gov domain that's quoted, I can't seem to...

From the usps.gov site:
The Postal Inspection Service office that serves PORTLAND ME can be contacted at:
POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
495 SUMMER ST SUITE 600
BOSTON MA 02210-2114

Phone : 617-556-4400
Fax : 617-556-0400

I wouldn't put it past him either JustinS. and since when is a POSTAL investigation done via ELECTRONIC mail anyway?

I have a PO box myself. I've had it for years. They copied my drivers license when I got it, so I know if some one said I frauded them, they would be knocking on my door, or sending me letters. They would NOT be sending emails out to people they think I did business with. I think the Attorney General has better things to do than reading all my mail, and forwarding all the email addys addys they find to the Postal Inpsector. Who then emails those addys with a survey. and wants the survey returned to either a po box or an email addy of a domain that does not contain a website.
It's just a bit far fetched.
Or maybe I've been watching too much TV. Wait, I don't watch TV. Maybe I've read too much WHT then.

I knew some one would read the part where I gave the Post Master's address, and not pay attention the part where I said this makes me think the Postal Inspector likely has the same type of address. Anyway, I did say to check it out first. Maybe I'm wrong, but I wouldn't give them anything until I verify who they really are.

Ok if it's a fraud which it appears it may be? Why send it in the first place?? I don't get it. I could some type of scam taking place with the copies of checks maybe. But how use a .gov email address to receive them? Not like you could go register that... Maybe if it's an hotlink maybe it's a .com/.net/.us and they just uses .gov for the textual part. Who'd question it? After all the usps has both the .gov and .com!

Anybody near Portland want to call and talk to the people at the post offices there to see if they can shed some light on this?

Downtown Station, 207-871-8464, 400 Congress St, Portland, ME 04101
Portland Main Office, 207-871-8437, 125 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
Station A, 207-871-8437, 622 Congress St Ste 9998, Portland, ME 04101
Woodfords Station, 207-871-8437, 616 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
South Portland Branch, 207-871-8451, 15 Cottage Rd, South Portland, ME 04106

Well the part of me that likes to think there is some good in everybody is thinking that maybe the letter was generated by some one who got burned. This person means well, and the survey is their way of getting lots of people to send the info to some authority. If the .gov addy is wrong, it will likely go to a default addy.
Even if nobody fills out the survey, (many will, because after all who buys enough junk from spammed email ads to keep them comming, eh?) this person may succed at scaring CW just by the letter being posted on the internet.

Or like you said, maybe the email was sent in html, and the .gov addy hot links to a different one. (CW's, for instance) and if all the complaining is sent right to the souce of the complaint, (ie CW) then people will THINK something is being done, thus they won't do anything else.

Oh, now my head hurts.
Bottom line, just check out the source first. Then use your head.

I have free long distance on my cell, but it is 6:30 here, prolly 5:30 there, so I would have to call tomorrow. It would be better if I actually had the email because if that turns out to be fraudulent, the REAL Postal Inspector will want a copy of it.
I could just ask a simple question or two, though. Like what is your mailing address, and email addy if you use it?

USPIS.gov is real:

WHOIS whois.nic.gov uspis.gov:

% DOTGOV WHOIS Server ready
U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS-DOM)
2111 Wilson Blvd Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201
Domain Name: USPIS.GOV
Status: Active
Domain servers in listed order:
RED.USPIS.GOV 204.117.11.226
NS1-AUTH.SPRINTLINK.NET 204.117.214.11, 206.118.179.10, 206.228.178.10, 206.228.179.10
NS2-AUTH.SPRINTLINK.NET 144.228.254.10, 206.228.254.10
NS3-AUTH.SPRINTLINK.NET 144.228.255.10
Technical POC, Administrative POC:
Burns, Darryl T. (DTB)
(703) 248-3703 (FAX)(703) 248-3737
DTBURNS@USPIS.GOV


They do have a site, it's just not working:


14 47 47 47 144.232.25.219 sl-gw9-dc-0-0-0.sprintlink.net
15 78 47 78 144.228.85.62 sl-postal-2-0.sprintlink.net
16 79 62 47 204.117.11.240 -
17 Timed out Timed out Timed out -


but their mail server is working:

MX records preference exchange IP address (if included)
50 red01.uspis.gov [204.117.11.226]
SMTP session

[Contacting red01.uspis.gov [204.117.11.226]...]
[Connected]
220 red01.uspis.gov Generic SMTP handler


and that PO Box address is real too (see http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/4_17maine.htm ):
Kittery Police advise any resident receiving a $10,000 "Entry Processing Form" from Top Choice, Inc. to forward it to: Investigator Kevin Slack, U.S. Postal Investigative Service, P.O. Box 1907, Portland, ME 04104-1907.

See what 5 minutes, Google, and network-tools.com can do? :D

- Matt

There are too many conspiracy theorists on WHT lol.

What I find funny is that the USPS complains that e-mail is driving down their revenue.

And then they conduct investigations primarily by e-mail.

"If you want people to buy it, you have to believe in it"

The same should stand true for the United States Postal Service.

Has anyone bothered to check the headers of the original email?

Your e-mail address appears on correspondence forwarded to our office by the Attorney General.

did anyone notice that int he letter? ask again why if the letter was real, why the person was contacted by email.




also, why has it taken so long for TIMMY to get taken care of by the USPIS? !


sheesh.

Your e-mail address appears

Perhapes he wasn't given a mailing address, who knows... Anandtech has removed the post, but the poster of the original message (the recipient) is convinced it is real. And considering the seacostonline story with the same name and address for the postal inspector, and others being able to lookup the uspis.gov domain (don't know why it wouldn't for me), I would tend to agree at this point.

Perhaps you wish to ask the inspector himself... email me if you wish to have the email addy.

As for how long it's taken, you don't know when the Maine AG
turned it over to them to begin with.

I've emailed Mr Stack with a link to this thread and asked him if he'd care to put this to rest once and for all. Hopefully I'll hear back from him shortly.