United States Postal Inspection Service

The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is involved in inter-agency task forces investigating identity theft and is the lead federal investigative agency when identity thieves have used the postal system in conducting their fraudulent activities. It coordinates or co-coordinates 19 financial crime task forces and working groups that address cases involving identity theft. In FY2008, the USPIS participated in 25 identity theft task forces, and postal inspectors arrested 2,047 identity theft suspects &mdash; from both USPIS investigations and task force investigations in which the USPIS was involved.

In addition to investigating identity theft, the USPIS has been involved in delivering educational presentations to consumer groups to assist in preventing identity theft, and inspectors are involved in sponsoring outreach programs for victims of identity theft.