How to Report Mail Fraud Online, by Mail, or by Phone

To report mail fraud, file a complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service online at uspis.gov/report, by phone at 1-877-876-2455, or by mailing a completed PS Form 8165 to the Criminal Investigations Service Center in Chicago. All three channels feed the same investigative system. If you’ve already sent money or handed over personal information, do one thing before you file: contact your bank, card issuer, or payment provider, because recovery odds fall by the hour.

If You Already Sent Money, Move First

Scammers cash out fast. The complaint can wait twenty minutes; a wire transfer usually can’t.

Credit or debit card: call your card issuer, report the charge as fraudulent, and ask them to reverse it.
Wire transfer through a company: contact the company directly. Western Union is 1-800-448-1492; MoneyGram is 1-800-926-9400. Request a reversal.
Bank wire transfer: call your bank, report it as fraudulent, and ask for a reversal.
Gift card: contact the issuer, tell them the card was used in a scam, and ask for a refund. Keep the card and receipt.
Money transfer app: report the transaction to the app and to any bank or card linked to it.
Cash sent by U.S. mail: call USPIS at 1-877-876-2455 and ask them to intercept the package before delivery.
Cryptocurrency: report to the platform, but understand that crypto transactions are designed to be irreversible and recovery is rare.

None of these steps guarantee a refund. Skipping them guarantees the opposite. Wire transfers and gift cards are the hardest to claw back, which is precisely why scammers push those two.¹

Is USPIS the Right Agency

USPIS handles fraud where someone used the U.S. Mail to run the scam: fake sweepstakes notices, bogus invoices, fraudulent solicitations, anything that came through the Postal Service and tried to take your money by deception.²

Two boundaries matter. If a postal employee or contractor is the problem, such as a mail carrier stealing packages, that goes to the USPS Office of Inspector General, not USPIS.³ If the fraud arrived through a private carrier like FedEx or UPS, or reached you by phone, email, or website, file with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, which shares reports with more than 2,800 law enforcement agencies.⁴

When you’re unsure, file with both USPIS and the FTC. There’s no penalty for double-reporting, and it puts your complaint into both databases. Scam emails or texts impersonating USPS or referencing fake package deliveries can be forwarded to spam@uspis.gov.²

Gather Your Evidence Before You File

Complaints with solid documentation feed active investigations. Complaints without it sit in a database. Pull these together before opening the form:

The original envelope. The postmark, return address, and barcode tell investigators where and when the mailing originated. This is the single most important physical item.
Everything that was inside: letters, brochures, fake checks, order forms, reply envelopes. Handle as little as possible.
Sender details printed on the solicitation: name, address, phone, email, website.
Dates you received the mailing and, if applicable, when you responded or paid.
Payment records: method, amount, transaction or confirmation numbers.
Your own written notes about what the solicitation promised and how the scam unfolded, while it’s fresh.

Keep the physical materials together in a folder or bag. Investigators use victim documentation to calculate the total loss from a scam operation, which shapes charging decisions and, later, sentencing.⁵

The Three Ways to File

Online at USPIS.gov

The fastest option. Go to uspis.gov/report and select Mail Fraud from the list of crime categories. The form walks through the sender’s information, your contact details, how you were contacted, and a narrative description. The same portal accepts reports for mail-based identity theft, cybercrime, and counterfeit postage.²

By Mail Using PS Form 8165

Download PS Form 8165 from the USPS website. It asks for the sender’s details, your contact information, how you were contacted, the date of contact, your age range, and veteran status.⁵ Mail the completed form to:

Criminal Investigations Service Center
Attn: Mail Fraud
433 W. Harrison Street, Room 3255
Chicago, IL 60699-3255⁶

Keep copies of everything. If you’re sending original evidence, use certified mail so you have proof of delivery. The paper route works well when you want photocopies of the solicitation to travel with the complaint.

By Phone

Call 1-877-876-2455 to speak with an intake specialist. The line also handles emergencies involving suspicious packages. If mail contained a potential threat, say “Emergency” when prompted for immediate routing.²

What Happens After You File

USPIS reviews every complaint to see whether the activity violates federal law or fits a larger criminal pattern. Don’t expect a phone call. Most complainants never hear directly from an inspector unless the case becomes an active prosecution and a victim statement is needed for court.

Silence isn’t dismissal. Individual complaints get aggregated with others targeting the same sender or scheme, and once enough reports point to one operation, that cluster can trigger task force investigations, search warrants, asset seizures, and indictments. USPIS also uses complaint data to issue public warnings about scams circulating in specific regions.

There is one reason to file even when the scam is old: mail fraud is a federal felony under 18 U.S.C. § 1341, carrying up to 20 years in prison, and the government generally has five years from the last use of the mail to bring charges, extending to ten years if a financial institution was affected.⁷⁸⁹ Older reports still help map patterns even when your specific incident is past the window.

Restitution and Recovering Lost Money

When a mail fraud prosecution succeeds, the sentencing court can order the defendant to repay victims. Before sentencing, the U.S. Probation Office collects loss information from victims, often through a Victim Impact Statement. The judge then enters a restitution order that remains enforceable for 20 years.¹⁰

To follow a case, register with the Department of Justice’s Victim Notification System at notify.usdoj.gov using the Victim Identification Number and Personal Identification Number the investigating agency provides. The VNS Call Center at 1-866-365-4968 offers the same information by phone.¹¹

When the government seizes a scammer’s assets, victims can petition for remission of a share of the forfeited proceeds. Qualifying requires documented losses directly caused by the crime and no compensation from another source, and recovery is capped at the fair market value of what you lost at the time of the fraud, without interest or expenses.¹²

Be realistic. Restitution orders are only as good as the defendant’s ability to pay, and many mail fraud operators have moved or spent the money long before sentencing. Keep every receipt, bank statement, and transaction record so you’re ready if a payout becomes possible.

Watch for Recovery Scams

After you’ve been defrauded once, expect a second wave. Scammers buy lists of previous victims and contact them by mail, phone, or text claiming they can recover the lost money for a fee.

Anyone who reaches out unprompted and asks for an upfront payment to recover funds is running a scam, whether they claim to represent a government agency, a law firm, or a consumer group. Legitimate organizations don’t charge for refund help, and nobody can guarantee recovery of stolen money. Be especially wary of anything called a “retainer fee,” “processing fee,” or “administrative charge,” and of requests to pay by gift card, cryptocurrency, or wire transfer.¹³

Never give your Social Security number, bank details, or other financial information to someone who contacted you first. Report recovery scams to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and to USPIS if the contact arrived by mail.

Protect Your Identity If You Shared Personal Information

If you gave a scammer your Social Security number, date of birth, or account numbers, filing the complaint isn’t enough. Lock down your credit next.

Freeze your credit at each of the three bureaus. Contact Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion individually. A freeze prevents new accounts from being opened in your name, and placing or lifting one is free.
Place a fraud alert as a lighter alternative. Contact one bureau; it notifies the other two. Businesses must then verify your identity before extending credit. The alert lasts one year.
Pull your credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and review them for accounts or inquiries you don’t recognize.
If someone has already used your information, go to IdentityTheft.gov to file a report and get a personalized recovery plan.

Keep monitoring for at least a year. Stolen personal data gets resold, and it can surface months later in unrelated fraud attempts.¹⁴

1
Federal Trade Commission. What To Do if You Were Scammed
2
United States Postal Inspection Service. Report a Crime
3
USPS Office of Inspector General. Postal, Postal, Postal
4
Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov
5
United States Postal Service. PS Form 8165 – Mail Fraud Complaint
6
United States Postal Inspection Service. United States Postal Inspection Service – Contact Us
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1341 – Frauds and Swindles
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 3282 – Offenses Not Capital
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3293 – Financial Institution Offenses
10
Department of Justice: Criminal Division. Restitution Process
11
Department of Justice. Victim Notification System
12
Federal Register. Inspection Service Authority – Seizure and Forfeiture
13
Federal Trade Commission. Refund and Recovery Scams
14
IdentityTheft.gov. When Information Is Lost or Exposed