NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
How do feds prove mail fraud?
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek – who has many, many, years of experience handling federal criminal cases. Our team has over 40 years of combined experience, and we’ve represented clients in cases that made national headlines. In 2022, Netflix released a series about Todd’s client Anna Delvey, and we’ve handled the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case and other high-profile matters.
If you’re reading this, federal prosecutors are probably building a mail fraud case against you – or you’re trying to understand what they need to convict. In January 2025, three defendants got sentenced for an international mail fraud scheme targeting elderly victims, with one receiving 121 months in prison. The feds love mail fraud charges because they’re easy to prove, and the penalties go up to 20 years.
Two Elements, That’s It
Federal mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1341 requires two things. First, you had a scheme to defraud someone. Second, you used the mail to carry out that scheme. Sounds simple. It is simple – that’s the problem.
The scheme to defraud means any plan or trick to deceive someone to get money or property. According to the Department of Justice Criminal Resource Manual, fraud “embraces all the various means by which one person can gain an advantage over another by false representations, suppression of the truth, or deliberate disregard for the truth.” False statements in a business proposal? Fraud. Omitting material facts? Fraud. Exaggerating your company’s financial health? Fraud.
Use of the mail is even easier for prosecutors. Mail includes the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, UPS – any commercial interstate carrier. You don’t have to personally drop the envelope in a mailbox. If your assistant mails something, if a third party mails documents related to your scheme, that counts. In May 2025, prosecutors charged a former postal worker who sent fraudulent billing statements to thousands of entities – each separate mailing was a separate count.
No Actual Harm Required
The government doesn’t have to prove anyone lost money. They don’t have to prove your scheme succeeded. The DOJ manual is explicit – “the victims of the scheme need not have been injured.”
What prosecutors must show is that “some actual harm or injury was contemplated by the schemer.” You intended to defraud. Whether you succeeded is irrelevant.
Four individuals were charged in a $63 million mail theft conspiracy in 2025 – two postal employees allegedly stole checks from the mail and sold them online via Telegram. Even if buyers never cashed those checks, even if victims never lost money because banks caught the fraud, the scheme itself creates liability.
Proving Intent Without a Confession
Mail fraud is a specific intent crime. The government must prove you knew what you were doing was fraudulent. Most defendants don’t confess. Most don’t write emails saying “let’s defraud these people.” So how do prosecutors prove what was in your head?
Circumstantial evidence. The DOJ Criminal Resource Manual states that “the requisite intent under the federal mail and wire fraud statutes may be inferred from the totality of the circumstances and need not be proven by direct evidence.”
Prosecutors look at patterns. Did you make multiple false statements over time? Did you continue the scheme after being confronted? Did you take steps to hide your conduct – deleting emails, using encrypted messaging apps, setting up shell companies? Did you personally benefit financially?
In the January 2025 international fraud case, prosecutors proved intent by showing a pattern – defendants repeatedly sent fraudulent communications, altered checks, deposited them in fraudulent bank accounts, and laundered the proceeds. No single piece of evidence proved intent. The pattern did.
Victim testimony is powerful. Courts allow “impression testimony” – victims explaining how defendants misled them. If ten investors testify that you promised guaranteed returns while knowing the investment was worthless, jurors infer intent. Complaint letters you received also come in – if victims complained and you ignored them or continued the scheme, that proves you knew it was fraudulent.
Incidental Use of Mail Is Enough
The mailing doesn’t have to be essential to your scheme. It just has to be “incident to an essential element of the scheme.”
Let’s say you run a Ponzi scheme. You meet investors face-to-face, take their money in person. But then you mail them account statements showing fake returns. Those statements aren’t necessary to defraud investors – you already got their money – but they keep investors believing the fraud is legitimate. That’s enough for mail fraud.
The government doesn’t even need to prove you personally mailed anything. If you knew the victim would receive something by mail as part of your scheme, you’re liable.
What Evidence Prosecutors Actually Gather
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigates mail fraud – they’re federal law enforcement with full arrest powers. Postal Inspectors run a crime laboratory conducting examinations on questioned documents, fingerprints, and digital evidence.
They obtain search warrants for your home, office, computer, phone. In recent 2025 cases, search warrants revealed stolen checks, debit cards belonging to other people, evidence of checks marketed for sale on Telegram, evidence of “check washing” using solvents.
Email communications are devastating. Prosecutors subpoena your email provider and get every email you sent or received, even deleted ones. They search for keywords: “invoice,” “payment,” “wire,” “transfer.” They find emails where you discussed the scheme with co-conspirators.
Postal Inspectors base investigations on complaint patterns. When multiple victims report similar schemes, they identify patterns – same fake company name, same P.O. box, same fraudulent invoices.
Each Mailing Is a Separate Federal Crime
Each separate mailing is a separate violation. If you mailed 100 fraudulent invoices, that’s 100 counts of mail fraud – each carrying up to 20 years.
Why does this matter? Sentencing. Even if counts run concurrent, the sheer number signals to judges that this was a long-running, sophisticated scheme. It increases offense level calculations under federal sentencing guidelines.
What We Do at Spodek Law Group
At Spodek Law Group – we’ve handled federal fraud cases that others said were unwinnable. Our criminal defense attorneys have over 40 years of combined experience defending federal fraud charges, and we’re available 24/7.
We challenge the government’s evidence – were Postal Inspector search warrants supported by probable cause? Were your emails obtained legally? Did the government prove you had fraudulent intent, or were you engaged in aggressive but legal business practices?
We negotiate with prosecutors before indictment when possible. If you’re under investigation but not yet charged, early intervention often results in no charges being filed.
Federal mail fraud carries up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000. If your scheme affected a financial institution or involved a federally declared disaster, penalties jump to 30 years and $1 million in fines.
If federal prosecutors are investigating you for mail fraud, don’t talk to Postal Inspectors without a lawyer. Every statement you make gets used against you as evidence of intent.
Reach out to us immediately. We handle cases coast-to-coast, we have offices throughout Long Island and NYC. Unlike other law firms who are more focused on their relationship with prosecutors, our loyalty is to you and getting you the best outcome possible.