Criminal Defense Lawyers

Federal Mail Fraud Charges

That FedEx Package Could Land You in Federal Prison

That FedEx package you shipped last week? That UPS delivery confirmation you signed for? That stack of invoices you mailed to clients? Any one of them could be the basis for federal mail fraud charges under 18 USC 1341. Were talking about 20 years in federal prison. Per count. And when prosecutors start counting every piece of mail, every package, every shipment—the numbers add up real fast.

Look, most people hear “mail fraud” and think its about stealing mail or something. Its not. Mail fraud is one of the broadest, most powerful tools federal prosecutors have. If you used the postal service—or FedEx, or UPS, or DHL, or literally any commercial carrier—in connection with any alleged fraud scheme, your facing federal charges. And trust me, the feds dont mess around with these cases.

If your reading this, something has probably already happened. Target letter. Grand jury subpoena. FBI agents at your door. Maybe a buisness partner just got arrested. Whatever brought you here, you need to understand exactly what mail fraud is, how its prosecuted, and most importantly—how to fight back. Because these cases can be beat. But only if you know what your doing.

What Is Mail Fraud Under 18 USC 1341?

Mail fraud is the original federal fraud statute. It goes all the way back to 1872—almost 80 years before wire fraud even existed. And thats important to understand, because mail fraud set the template for how the federal goverment prosecutes fraud. Its been expanded, interpreted, and applied to virtually every type of fraud scheme you can imagine.

The statute itself is deceptivley simple. According to the DOJ Criminal Resource Manual, prosecutors gotta prove four things:

• A scheme to defraud – You devised or participated in a plan to obtain money or property through false pretenses
• Intent to defraud – You specificly meant to deceive someone, not just a mistake
• Use of mail or carrier – Postal service OR private/commercial interstate carrier was used
• Mailing in furtherance – The mailing was for purpose of executing the scheme

Now here’s what makes this statue so dangerous. That third element—”use of mail or carrier”—is incredibley easy to satisfy. Virtually every buisness operation in America involves mailing something. Invoices. Contracts. Marketing materials. Packages. Shipping confirmations. If any of those mailings were connected to alleged fraudulent conduct, boom—federal jurisdiction.

Real talk: prosecutors love mail fraud charges because they’re so easy to prove. Show a scheme, show some mailings, connect the two, and your looking at federal indictment. Its the prosecutors bread and butter.

The History Matters

Why does the history matter? Because understanding that mail fraud is the “template” statute helps you understand why its so broad. When Congress wrote this law in 1872, they wanted to protect the postal system. Over 150 years, courts have expanded it to cover basicly any fraudulent scheme that touches the mail—even tangentially. Wire fraud, bank fraud, healthcare fraud—they all borrowed from mail fraud’s structure.

What Counts as “Mail”? The Private Carrier Trap

OK so heres something that trips up alot of people, and frankly, most lawyer websites dont even explain it right. When the statute says “mail,” it dont just mean the Post Office. Since 1994, private carriers count too.

Were talking about:

FedEx. UPS. DHL. Amazon delivery. Any “private or commercial interstate carrier.” If they transport packages across state lines, using them in connection with fraud is mail fraud. Full stop.

Think about what that means for a typical buisness. You ship products through FedEx? Every shipment could be a count. You send documents via UPS overnight? Every envelope is potential federal exposure. That tracking number you saved? Its now evidence.

The Return Receipt Trap

And heres something most people really dont think about. All them records you kept—certified mail receipts, signature confirmations, tracking numbers, delivery confirmations—they’re all evidence now. Evidence that YOU used the mails to execute whatever scheme prosecutors are alleging.

I’ve seen cases where defendants meticulous record-keeping became the prosecutions best evidence. Every certified letter with return receipt? Prosecution exhibit. Every FedEx tracking printout? Prosecution exhibit. Your organized files just made it easier for them to prove there case.

How Federal Prosecutors Build Mail Fraud Cases

Understanding how these cases are built helps you understand your defense options. Mail fraud investigations typicaly start one of two ways.

Postal Inspection Service Investigations

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencys in the country—older then the FBI, even. These are the investigators who specialize in mail fraud. They know there stuff. If postal inspectors are at your door, take it seriously.

Postal inspectors have specific techniques. They analyze mailing patterns. They track where packages came from and where they went. They interview postal workers. They subpoena carrier records. They build timelines based on postmarks and delivery confirmations. If you’ve been shipping alot of stuff related to your buisness, they’ve probably already mapped it all out.

FBI and Multi-Agency Investigations

For larger, more complex schemes, the FBI often takes lead—sometimes working alongside postal inspectors, IRS criminal investigation, or other agencies. These multi-agency investigations are serious. They have resources. They have time. They’ve been building your case for months, maybe years, before you ever knew about it.

Why Mail and Wire Fraud Get Paired Together

Heres something you need to understand if your looking at an indictment: prosecutors almost always charge both mail fraud AND wire fraud together. And they do this for strategic reasons.

First, it doubles the count exposure. Every email AND every mailing becomes a seperate count. Second, it gives prosecutors venue flexibility—they can choose where to bring the case based on where communications were sent or recieved. Third, it makes defense harder because your fighting two parallel charges with slightly diffrent elements.

So if your indictment lists both 18 USC 1341 (mail fraud) and 18 USC 1343 (wire fraud), dont be suprised. Thats standard prosecutorial strategy.

Penalties and Sentencing: The Count Multiplication Nightmare

Alright, lets talk about what your actually facing. And honestly—this is the section that keeps people up at night, for good reason.

The basic mail fraud statute carrys a maximum of 20 years in federal prison. Per count. If the fraud affected a financial institution, or involved a presidentially-declared disaster or emergency, that jumps to 30 years per count and up to $1 million in fines.

Count Multiplication – The Math Gets Scary Fast

Heres the thing that really gets people. Each mailing can be charged as a seperate count. And in a typical buisness fraud scheme, there might be dozens, hundreds, even thousands of mailings.

Lets do some math. Say your alleged scheme involved a mass mailing to 100 potential investors. Thats 100 counts. At 20 years per count, thats 2,000 years maximum exposure—on paper. Now, consecutive sentances like that dont actually happen, but prosecutors use this leverage. They’ll offer to drop counts in exchange for a plea. They’ll threaten the full weight of the charges to pressure cooperation.

Even in smaller schemes, the numbers add up. Ten invoices mailed to clients? Ten counts. Five packages shipped? Five more counts. Its multiplication, and it works against defendants.

Sentencing Guidelines – How Its Actually Calculated

In reality, sentances are determined by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. And heres where loss amounts become critical.

The loss table works like this: Loss of $6,500 or more adds 2 offense levels. $15,000 adds 4 levels. $40,000 adds 6 levels. $100,000 adds 8 levels. $400,000 adds 10 levels. $1 million adds 12 levels. $2.5 million adds 14 levels. And it keeps going up from their.

Then you got enhancements. “Sophisticated means”—shell companies, offshore accounts—add 2 levels. Leadership role adds 2-4 levels. Victims with substantial financial hardship adds more. By the time its all calculated, first-time offenders in major schemes can be looking at 5-15 years.

Restitution – The Hidden Financial Devastation

And were not done. Restitution—paying back alleged victims—gets ordered in most mail fraud cases. And restitution is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. It follows you forever.

Heres the trap: in a conspiracy, your restitution liability is based on ALL mailings by ALL co-conspirators that you reasonably could have forseen. Even if you personaly only mailed five things, if the overall scheme involved 500 mailings, you might be on the hook for losses from all of them.

RICO Escalation Risk

One more thing—and this is serious. Mail fraud is a “predicate offense” under RICO, the federal racketeering statute. If prosecutors can show a pattern of mail fraud—multiple related schemes over time—they can add RICO charges. And RICO carries its own devastating penalties, plus civil forfeiture provisions that let them seize everything you own.

Defense Strategies That Actually Work

OK, enough about how bad it can get. Lets talk about fighting back. Because despite conviction rates, despite prosecutorial resources, mail fraud cases can be defended. You can win at trial. You can get charges dismissed. You can negotiate resolutions that protect your future.

The Good Faith Defense

Just like wire fraud, mail fraud requires specific intent to defraud. If you genuinley believed what you were saying was true—even if it turned out to be false—you cant be guilty. Good faith is a complete defense.

This is actualy the strongest defense in many mail fraud cases. “Yes, I sent those materials. Yes, some statements werent accurate. But I believed they were true when I said them.” If the jury believes you acted in good faith, they must acquit.

The “In Furtherance” Challenge

Heres a defense strategy that gets overlooked. The mailing has to be “for the purpose of executing” the scheme. If the mail was incidental, unrelated, or happend after the scheme was essentially complete, it might not satisfy this element.

For example: you mail a thank-you card after a transaction closes. Is that “in furtherance” of fraud? Arguably not—the deal was already done. Or you send routine administrative correspondence that has nothing to do with the alleged scheme. Defense attorneys can challenge whether each specific mailing actualy furthered the fraud.

No Scheme – Just Business Gone Wrong

Sometimes what prosecutors call “fraud” is really just a buisness that failed. Deals go bad. Projections dont pan out. Companies go bankrupt. But that dosnt make it criminal.

The key distinction: was there a scheme to deceive from the begining, or did legitimate plans just not work out? Defense lawyers work hard to show the jury this is a civil dispute—breach of contract, maybe—not criminal fraud.

Statute of Limitations

Mail fraud has a 5-year statute of limitations (10 years if a financial institution was affected). Defense attorneys always analyze timing. When did the alleged mailings occur? Is the government within the limitations period? Has there been any tolling?

Other Defense Approaches

Withdrawal from conspiracy—proving you left the scheme before the mailings. Entrapment—if government agents induced you to participate. Lack of knowledge—if you genuinley didn’t know what was in the mailings or how they were being used. Each case is diffrent.

Mail Fraud vs. Wire Fraud: Understanding Both Charges

Since most indictments include both mail fraud and wire fraud, lets break down the diffrence.

Mail Fraud (18 USC 1341): Uses postal service or commercial carriers. Venue where mail was deposited or recieved. 150+ year legal history with extensive case law.

Wire Fraud (18 USC 1343): Uses electronic communications—email, phone, internet. Venue where communication was sent or recieved. More recent statute (1952) but equally broad.

Penalties are identical: 20 years base, 30 years for financial institutions. Prosecutors charge both because it maximizes there options. More counts. More venue choices. More leverage.

The Honest Services Variant

Both mail fraud and wire fraud have an “honest services” version under 18 USC 1346. This applies when someone—usualy a public official or corporate fiduciary—deprives another of their “intangible right of honest services” through bribes or kickbacks. No money has to be stolen. Just the breach of duty is enough.

Current Enforcement Priorities 2024-2025

Federal prosecutors dont pursue every mail fraud case. Understanding current priorities helps you assess your risk.

Healthcare fraud remains the biggest focus. Medicare and Medicaid billing schemes. Kickbacks between providers. False claims. The DOJ has dedicated healthcare fraud strike forces in major cities.

Elder fraud targeting seniors has become a major priority. If your alleged victims include elderly individuals, expect agressive prosecution. Sweepstakes scams, lottery scams, romance scams—all heavily targeted.

COVID-19 relief fraud continues even in 2025. PPP loan schemes, EIDL fraud, unemployment fraud. The government is still working through a massive backlog.

Investment fraud and Ponzi schemes always draw attention, especialy when losses are large or victims are sympathetic.

You Need to Act Now

Look, I know this is alot to take in. Mail fraud charges are serious. Were talking potential decades in prison, millions in restitution, your reputation destroyed. The federal goverment has resources you cant match on your own.

But you have options. Good faith defenses. Furtherance challenges. Pre-indictment intervention. Cooperation strategies. None of it works, though, if you wait to long.

If your under investigation—if you got that target letter, if agents showed up, if a grand jury subpoena arrived—the clock is ticking. Every day without a lawyer is a day prosecutors get stronger. Witnesses get locked into statements. Evidence gets organized. Your options narrow.

Call a federal criminal defense attorney today. Not next week. Not after the holidays. Today. That FedEx tracking number you saved so carefully? It might be evidence in your case right now. And every day you wait is a day you cant get back.

Mail fraud cases are defendable. But only with the right lawyer, the right strategy, and enough time to execute. Dont waste the time you have left.