Four Pennsylvania residents have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in a large-scale check fraud scam that entailed stealing mail, changing checks, and depositing them into recruited bank accounts.
Naod Tsegay, 25, from Collingdale, Pennsylvania, received a 42-month sentence as the ringleader. His co-conspirators, Fode Bangoura, 23, and Zyier Williams, 21, both of Philadelphia, received six-month sentences.
Najae Thomas, 24, who conducted a different but similar fraud, received a 61-month sentence.
“When Naod Tsegay, the ringleader of this scheme, was arrested, police recovered multiple stolen keys capable of unlocking every blue USPS box across four local zip codes,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “The amount of mail stolen and the number of checks these defendants sought to alter and cash is significant. My office, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and our partners won’t allow criminals who target the U.S. Postal Service to disrupt the nation’s mail system and commit identity theft with impunity. As these cases prove, we will prosecute, and you will be held accountable.”
Tsegay, Bangoura, and Williams contacted people from March to June 2021 to submit bank account information.
They then stole checks from USPS collection boxes, changed the payees’ identities and amounts, and deposited them in the recruited accounts. The total amount taken or attempted theft topped $150,000.
Investigators caught Tsegay in possession of stolen checks, money orders, and USPS keys for collection boxes. Thomas’s plot involved a planned loss of over $200,000.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania prosecuted the cases after the US Postal Inspection Service investigated them.
