Orange Post Office Celebrates National Consumer Protection Week

Educating Customers How to Prevent Identity Theft and Avoid Fraudulent Schemes

Orange, NJ — Local Postmaster, Jane Walsh is supporting a national effort by the United States Postal Service to mark National Consumer Protection Week which runs from March 1-7. A week of activities sponsored primarily by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to draw attention to fraud and other threats to consumers.

The U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service play leading roles in increasing public awareness of identity theft and fraudulent mailing schemes. The organizations state that, according to the FTC, as little as 2 percent of all victims reported that the identity crimes they experienced were through the U.S. Mail.

“Although 2 percent seems a small amount we think it’s still too high, and that is why the Postal Service wants to provide consumers tools to guard against losing their hard-earned money to fraud,” said the Orange, Postmaster. According to the National Consumers League, reported losses from one type of mail fraud alone – fraudulent schemes – quadrupled in three years. Each victim of this type of scam loses an average of $4,000.

Postmaster Walsh adds consumers can take these common sense actions to avoid becoming a fraud victim:

• Take your time when responding to offers.
• Educate yourself about fraud.
• Know with whom you are dealing.
• Protect your personal information.
• Be skeptical of any offer that sounds too good to be true.

The Postal Service’s commitment to protecting customers’ private information was recognized for the fifth consecutive year when it was named Most Trusted Government Agency in the independent Ponemon Institute Privacy Study last month. “Our participation in National Consumer Protection Week is just one more way we hope to keep that trust”. concludes Walsh.