People who stole U.S. Postal Service uniforms are posing as postal workers and robbing people at gunpoint.
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No evidence fake postal workers are robbing people at gunpoint
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- The U.S. Postal Service’s law enforcement arm told PolitiFact it has no knowledge of a uniform store theft, and we found no evidence of a series of armed robberies involving fake mail carriers.
A frightening warning is circulating on social media, advising people to beware someone who may appear to be a U.S. Postal Service worker.
"Please be alert the United States Postal Service uniform store was broke in over the weekend uniforms were stolen & they are wearing them showing up at people homes stating they have a package for them & when the door is opened they force there way in robbing people at gun point & tying them up getting away with money & valuables," reads the warning.
One post sharing it was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook.)
A spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Postal Service’s law enforcement arm, told PolitiFact the agency didn’t know of any postal uniform thefts.
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Because the Facebook post included a comment that this happened in "Nutbush, Tennessee," we also reached out to the postal service’s regional office in Tennessee. A postal inspector based in Memphis said it has "no information related to the claim," adding that Nutbush is a "very small rural unincorporated community." The inspector said she doesn’t think there’s a postal service uniform store there. We didn’t find evidence of one, either.
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Searching for news articles about fake postal workers robbing people at gunpoint, we found only coverage of mail carriers themselves being held up.
If evidence emerges to corroborate this claim, we’ll reconsider our ruling. For now, it’s False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, Dec. 19, 2022
Email interview with Susan Link, postal inspector, Dec. 20, 2022
Email interview with Dan Mihalko, communication consultant, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Dec. 20, 2022
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No evidence fake postal workers are robbing people at gunpoint
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