How do they tell if your stamps are authentic?

[FleshLight]

What's stopping me from putting a bunch of stickers on my envelopes?

 

[venk]

Originally posted by: FleshLight
What's stopping me from putting a bunch of stickers on my envelopes?

Federal "Pound Me in the Ass" Prison.

 

[tm37]

Try it what could happen?

 

[So]

Umm... mail fraud is a crime?

 

[her209]

How do they know you did it? It could be anyone that puts your name on the envelope.

 

[wiredspider]

Because they scan them or something? Most of the mail handling stuff is automated so it must scan it somehow because I have gotten mail back for not enough postage and even once because I had taped the stamp on...

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: So
Umm... mail fraud is a crime?

I thought that's when you read someone else's mail . . .

 

[Eli]

I've often wondered the same thing ....

But it's only 30something cents, so who cares.

 

[krazzypanda]

I was looking through a pile of mail and saw a halographic sticker as a stamp. I guess it worked back then.

 

[gopunk]

maybe they can't, but is it really worth the trouble?

 

[quizzelsnatch]

Originally posted by: Eli
I've often wondered the same thing ....

But it's only 30something cents, so who cares.

30 cents * however much mail is sent daily = a lot of money.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: quizzelsnatch

Originally posted by: Eli
I've often wondered the same thing ....

But it's only 30something cents, so who cares.

30 cents * however much mail is sent daily = a lot of money.

30 cents * some really small fraction of however much mail is sent daily - cost of making forged stamps - chance of getting caught * penalty for fraud = not worth it

 

[FleshLight]

Yeah, I know it's not worth it over something so small, but is there some sort of mark on the stamp that indicates that it's authentic? Like some sort of watermark, hologram, texture, etc?

 

[So]

Originally posted by: Amol

Originally posted by: So
Umm... mail fraud is a crime?

I thought that's when you read someone else's mail . . .

I think that's mail tampering.

 

[BillGates]

It's small beans - even if somebody does make and pass a counterfeit stamps, oh well. They aren't updating the $1 bill with new security features for basically the same reason.

 

[kranky]

Special inks in the stamps are detected by the mail processing equipment.

 

[loic2003]

Put some fake address on the front of the envelope and stick on a steamed off used stamp on the front. Cross out the address and write something like "no such person here" or "no such address" next to the front address. Then write the address you really want the letter to go to as the return address on the back.

Worked for me (in UK) about 10 years ago.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: kranky
Special inks in the stamps are detected by the mail processing equipment.

I do believe that is true. Even if it's not... do you really want to take the risk, of going to a federal PYITA prison, over a $0.35 stamp? Seems silly to me.