Lijuan “Angela” Chen, 51, from Walnut is the woman defrauded postal service and she is from California.
She admitted to stealing over $150 million from the USPS by using fake postage to send millions of packages.
She ran a package shipping business with Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu in Industry, California, serving China-based companies.
From 2020 to 2023, they sent more than 34 million parcels with fake labels, costing the USPS a lot of money.
After Hu fled to China in 2019, Chen stayed in the U.S. to oversee the operation.
In her plea deal, she agreed to give back the stolen money from her bank accounts, insurance, and properties in California. She could spend up to 5 years in prison for her crimes.
Counterfeit Postage
Hugh “Chuanhua” Hu was key in the “woman defrauded postal service” scam that tricked the U.S. Postal Service by making fake postage stamps to dodge shipping fees.
He made fake Netstamps, which are online postage labels, to help send packages. When the scam was uncovered in November 2019, Hu ran away to China and kept making fake labels with a computer program.
Angela “Lijuan” Chen stayed in the U.S. to look after the warehouses and handle the packages, which often had reused “smart barcode data” from past items, catching the attention of postal inspectors.
Warehousing the Fraudulent Packages
The woman defrauded postal service and her name Lijuan “Angela” Chen ran a shipping business in California that was involved in fraud with her partner, Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu.
They got packages from China and used fake shipping labels to make it look like the postage was paid.
Chen was in charge of the warehouses, making sure the packages were ready to be sent through the USPS.
Applying Fake Postage and Shipping Labels
The woman defrauded postal service and Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu cheated the U.S. Postal Service by putting fake postage labels on millions of packages from Chinese companies.
They made it look like the packages had real postage, so they could send them without anyone noticing.
They did this for over 34 million packages from January 2020 to May 2023, causing the USPS to lose a lot of money.
Hu’s Escape to China and Continued Counterfeiting
After the woman defrauded postal service, In November 2019, Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu, involved in fraud, left the U.S. to China to avoid being caught.
In China, he improved their fake label making process with advanced computer programs, making their operation bigger and more efficient.
He escaped arrest but also made their fraud harder to investigate. Meanwhile, Angela Chen stayed in the U.S., handling the operation’s logistics and sending out millions of packages with the fake labels.
Unraveling the Scheme
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS Criminal Investigation division worked together to stop a big scam led by Lijuan “Angela” Chen and Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu.
They watched packages, stopped illegal shipments, and checked financial records. The investigation showed how big the scam was, with Chen admitting to her part and trying to find Hu, who is still missing in China.
Hu’s Charges and Fugitive Status
The woman defrauded postal service incident led to the blame of many things. Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu, who worked with Lijuan “Angela” Chen, is accused of working together to commit fraud in the U.S., including making fake money, passing counterfeit bills, and making fake postage stamps.
After being caught by postal inspectors in November 2019, Hu ran away to China, where he is thought to be hiding.
Meanwhile, Chen stayed in the U.S. to run the warehouses where they shipped packages with fake postage.
Hu continued his illegal activities from China, creating computer programs to make fake shipping labels.
Ongoing Investigations and Efforts to Hold Perpetrators Accountable
Law enforcement is working hard to fully understand The “woman defrauded postal service” fraud scheme led by Lijuan “Angela” Chen and Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu, who stole over $150 million from the U.S.
Postal Service are carefully looking at financial documents, how package were shipped, and if anyone else was involved.
Their aim is to find and punish everyone who was part of the fraud.
The big mail scam led by Lijuan “Angela” Chen and Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu highlights the need for better security in the USPS.
They took advantage of weaknesses in the system, causing a lot of money to be lost and led to the “woman defrauded postal service” incident.
As they seek justice, it’s important for the USPS and government to put in place better protections to stop this from happening again, keeping the public’s trust and the USPS’s reputation.