Canonical URL: https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/ --- description: Federal prosecutors in New York announced charges on September 25, alleging cards worth $25 to $500 each were taken from mail and used in several states. title: Two former USPS employees charged over alleged theft of 200 gift cards image: https://giftcard.news/images/social/v1/two-former-usps-employees-charged-over-alleged-theft-200-gift-cards-685f806657b3d5fd306504c57d7f579b.jpg --- 1. [Home](https://giftcard.news/) 2. [Fraud & Security](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/) # Two former USPS employees charged over alleged theft of 200 gift cards Federal prosecutors in New York announced charges on September 25, alleging cards worth $25 to $500 each were taken from mail and used in several states. By [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) September 25, 2026 2 min read [ Google News ](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=giftcard.news&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news) Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fformer-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Two+former+USPS+employees+charged+over+alleged+theft+of+200+gift+cards&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fformer-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Two+former+USPS+employees+charged+over+alleged+theft+of+200+gift+cards+https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fformer-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "WhatsApp") ![A row of colourful residential mailboxes beside a fence](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/two-former-usps-employees-charged-over-alleged-theft-200-gift-cards-row-w1280.webp) Illustrative photograph of residential mailboxes. The location is unrelated to the New York investigation. Photo: Philippe Murray-Pietsch / Unsplash. Photo: Philippe Murray-Pietsch / Unsplash Two former [U.S. Postal Service](https://giftcard.news/organization/u-s-postal-service/) employees appeared in federal court on September 25 on charges linked to an alleged scheme to steal at least 200 gift cards from the mail and use them for personal benefit. The case concerns Pian Pian Wong-Tam and William Wong, according to the [U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York](https://giftcard.news/organization/u-s-attorney-s-office-for-the-southern-district-of-new-york/). [\[S01\]](#article-source-1) The charges are allegations. Both defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Prosecutors allege that Wong-Tam took cards from mail entrusted to her while working at the White Plains Processing and Distribution Center and shared them with Wong, who worked at a post office in Millwood. The alleged conduct ran from April 2025 through July 24, 2026. ## Physical delivery is central to the case The Postal Service Office of Inspector General began investigating after customers reported damaged mail with expected gift cards missing. Prosecutors say the cards had individual values ranging from $25 to $500 and were used at businesses in multiple states. The release does not state an aggregate loss or identify the card brands. The alleged theft occurred while gift cards were moving through the mail. The announcement does not describe a compromise of an issuer's technology, an online gift-card platform or a merchant's payment system. That distinction places the reported risk in physical delivery and custody. Both defendants face counts concerning conspiracy, unlawful possession of mail and access-device fraud. Wong-Tam also faces a charge of theft of mail by a postal employee. The release lists statutory maximum penalties but those are not sentences and do not predict the outcome of the case. [\[S01\]](#article-source-1) The September court appearance is the new development. The announcement does not establish a conviction, restitution order or final recovery amount for the allegedly stolen cards. ## In this article ### Organizations * [U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York](https://giftcard.news/organization/u-s-attorney-s-office-for-the-southern-district-of-new-york/) * [U.S. Postal Service](https://giftcard.news/organization/u-s-postal-service/) ### Sources and documents * [\[S01\] U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York official court-phase announcement](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/two-former-usps-employees-charged-connection-scheme-steal-more-200-gift-cards-out-mail?utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news) — U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fformer-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Two+former+USPS+employees+charged+over+alleged+theft+of+200+gift+cards&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fformer-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Two+former+USPS+employees+charged+over+alleged+theft+of+200+gift+cards+https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fformer-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "WhatsApp") ![Portrait of Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait-w320.webp) About the author ## [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) Journalist — Payments, Security & PCI DSS Daniel Brooks covers payment networks, financial technology, payment security, gift card fraud and PCI DSS for Gift Card News. From reading to building ## Your next move in gift cards. Tell us what you’re building. We’ll help you explore suitable providers. [Find a provider ](https://giftcard.news/find-a-provider/) ## Related articles [Fraud & Security](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/) News ### [giftee Group estimates JPY 550 million loss after unauthorized e-gift issuance](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/giftee-unauthorized-egift-issuance-estimated-loss-2026/) [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) October 26, 2026 3 min [Fraud & Security](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/) News ### [San Francisco settlement creates $1.525 million Vanilla gift-card fund](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/san-francisco-vanilla-gift-card-restitution-fund/) [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) October 23, 2026 4 min [Fraud & Security](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/) News ### [Valuedesign reports card-data leak as MOS resets PINs](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/valuedesign-value-card-data-leak-mos-card-2026/) [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) October 23, 2026 4 min ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/#publisher","name":"Gift Card News","url":"https://giftcard.news/","description":"News and analysis covering gift cards, retail, loyalty, rewards and payments worldwide.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/icon-512.png","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/icon-512.png","width":512,"height":512,"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#logo"},"publishingPrinciples":"https://giftcard.news/editorial-policy/","correctionsPolicy":"https://giftcard.news/editorial-policy/"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://giftcard.news/#website","url":"https://giftcard.news/","name":"Gift Card News","description":"News and analysis covering gift cards, retail, loyalty, rewards and payments worldwide.","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#publisher"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://giftcard.news/search/?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/#person","name":"Daniel Brooks","url":"https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/","description":"Daniel Brooks covers payment networks, financial technology, payment security, gift card fraud and PCI DSS for Gift Card News.","jobTitle":"Journalist — Payments, Security & PCI DSS","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait.webp","width":1254,"height":1254,"caption":"Illustrated portrait representing the Daniel Brooks editorial profile.","@id":"https://giftcard.news/images/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait.webp#image","encodingFormat":"image/webp","description":"Illustrated portrait for Daniel Brooks, a Gift Card News editorial pen name","creditText":"Gift Card News / AI-generated illustration"}},{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/two-former-usps-employees-charged-over-alleged-theft-200-gift-cards-row.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/two-former-usps-employees-charged-over-alleged-theft-200-gift-cards-row.webp","width":1920,"height":1280,"caption":"Illustrative photograph of residential mailboxes. The location is unrelated to the New York investigation. Photo: Philippe Murray-Pietsch / Unsplash.","@id":"https://giftcard.news/images/two-former-usps-employees-charged-over-alleged-theft-200-gift-cards-row.webp#image","encodingFormat":"image/webp","description":"A row of colourful residential mailboxes beside a fence","creditText":"Philippe Murray-Pietsch / Unsplash","isBasedOn":"https://unsplash.com/photos/a-row-of-colorful-mail-boxes-sitting-next-to-a-bush-xiqCrk6LvTg"},{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/#article","url":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/","headline":"Two former USPS employees charged over alleged theft of 200 gift cards","description":"Federal prosecutors in New York announced charges on September 25, alleging cards worth $25 to $500 each were taken from mail and used in several states.","datePublished":"2026-09-25T00:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-04T10:49:51.833Z","inLanguage":"en","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#website"},"isAccessibleForFree":false,"hasPart":[{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccessibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".reader-restricted"}],"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/two-former-usps-employees-charged-over-alleged-theft-200-gift-cards-row.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/two-former-usps-employees-charged-over-alleged-theft-200-gift-cards-row.webp","width":1920,"height":1280,"caption":"Illustrative photograph of residential mailboxes. The location is unrelated to the New York investigation. Photo: Philippe Murray-Pietsch / Unsplash.","@id":"https://giftcard.news/images/two-former-usps-employees-charged-over-alleged-theft-200-gift-cards-row.webp#image","encodingFormat":"image/webp","description":"A row of colourful residential mailboxes beside a fence","creditText":"Philippe Murray-Pietsch / Unsplash","isBasedOn":"https://unsplash.com/photos/a-row-of-colorful-mail-boxes-sitting-next-to-a-bush-xiqCrk6LvTg"}],"articleSection":"Fraud & Security","keywords":["U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York","U.S. Postal Service"],"mentions":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/organization/u-s-attorney-s-office-for-the-southern-district-of-new-york/#entity","name":"U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York","url":"https://giftcard.news/organization/u-s-attorney-s-office-for-the-southern-district-of-new-york/"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/organization/u-s-postal-service/#entity","name":"U.S. Postal Service","url":"https://giftcard.news/organization/u-s-postal-service/"}],"wordCount":293,"citation":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"[S01] U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York official court-phase announcement","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/two-former-usps-employees-charged-connection-scheme-steal-more-200-gift-cards-out-mail","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York"}}],"author":[{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/#person"}],"publisher":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#publisher"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/#webpage","url":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/","name":"Two former USPS employees charged over alleged theft of 200 gift cards","description":"Federal prosecutors in New York announced charges on September 25, alleging cards worth $25 to $500 each were taken from mail and used in several states.","datePublished":"2026-09-25T00:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-04T10:49:51.833Z","inLanguage":"en","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#website"},"mainEntity":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/#article"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/#breadcrumbs"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/images/two-former-usps-employees-charged-over-alleged-theft-200-gift-cards-row.webp#image"}},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/#breadcrumbs","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://giftcard.news/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fraud & Security","item":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Two former USPS employees charged over alleged theft of 200 gift cards","item":"https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/former-usps-employees-charged-200-gift-cards-mail-theft/"}]}]} ```