PHILADELPHIA, PA — United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that brothers Zumar Dubose, age 34, of Atlantic City, NJ; Abdush Dubose, age 36, of Boynton Beach, FL; and Kariem Dubose, age 42, of Philadelphia, PA, were convicted Tuesday at trial of mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering conspiracy charges arising from their scheme to defraud and obtain money from the United States Postal Service, UPS, and Citizens Bank.
Information presented at court revealed that starting as early as October 2018, in less than one year, the defendants submitted over 1,200 fraudulent insured-parcel claims with the United States Postal Service and UPS, and received almost $300,000 in ill-gotten gains. As part of the scheme, the Dubose brothers sent parcels themselves containing items of no value using insured United States Postal Service postage and UPS tracking labels. They then filed fraudulent claims with United States Postal Service and UPS, claiming that these parcels which had contained nothing of value were lost or damaged in transit, and attached sham proofs of value. The defendants used numerous e-mails, addresses and postboxes, bank accounts and bank cards, fake individual names, and fictitious corporations, including “Urmajesty Banktruckfit Solutions,” “Miworld Three Incorporated,” and “4 Entertainment Corporation,” which were incorporated in the State of New Jersey, and “Seeds of Beauty Incorporated,” which was incorporated in the State of Florida. The claim checks that the brothers received as part of this fraud scheme were deposited into Citizens Bank accounts opened in the names of these fake companies through ATMs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.
When USPS and UPS refused to issue or deliver some of the fraudulently-obtained claim checks, and when Citizens Bank placed a hold on a bank account that was used to deposit the fraud proceeds, the Dubose brothers were undeterred. The brothers repeatedly contacted the United States Postal Service and UPS using fake names; defendant Zumar Dubose even filed lawsuits against UPS in various counties in New Jersey, using fake plaintiff names and falsely claiming that UPS did not pay him funds that he was owed. The defendants also filed lawsuits against Citizens Bank, again pretending to be a different individual, in an effort to obtain the funds from their fraud scheme.
“Lying about insured parcels and then turning around and filing lawsuits against the victim companies, when those companies suspected something was awry is brazen, to say the least,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “Today’s guilty verdicts against the Dubose brothers show the commitment of our office and law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute this type of flagrant fraud.”
One of the investigative missions of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) is to help safeguard the Postal Service and U.S. Mail from being utilized for illegal activity. OIG Special Agents vigorously investigate these cases in partnership with our law enforcement partners,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Jeffery Krafels. “These guilty verdicts should serve as a reminder and deterrent to anyone thinking this type of behavior is acceptable.”
The case was investigated by the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General and the United States Postal Inspection Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Louis D. Lappen and J. Jeanette Kang. UPS and Citizens Bank provided crucial cooperation in this investigation.
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