Thief uses fake notary letter to reroute, intercept package in Roxborough: Police

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police are investigating a package theft that involved a hacked UPS account, a forged notary letter, and several fake IDs.

Investigators say the incident happened Friday at Roxborough News Shop.

The victim told police that an unauthorized male had picked up her new $1,900 laptop from the UPS access point there. However, both the victim and store manager say how that male was able to pick up her package was part of an elaborate ruse.

"He's like really brilliant. He made out a letter, he made out an ID copy, and everything is in there. It's hard to believe it's not the right one. It was a fake," said Geeta Patel, the store manager.

Surveillance video shows when the unknown male walked into the store, he gave the clerk a piece of paper. The letter, which has a fake notary stamp on it, gave the male authorization to pick up the package for the victim.

The suspect also had fake IDs for both himself and the victim go along with the letter.

"After couple hours, the real lady, the package lady, she comes and she says 'my package is here,'" said Patel.

The victim says she typically has her packages sent to work, but learned the suspect opened a UPS My Choice account in her name and rerouted several of her packages to Roxborough News Shop where he could intercept them.

She says he only took the laptop. Investigators say this likely isn't the first time the suspect has attempted this ruse.

The store's owners say they had never seen him before and haven't seen him since, but they won't be giving packages to anyone but the recipient again.

"We're going to be more careful now," said Patel.

Northwest Detectives are investigating the crime. The US Postal Inspection Service says a scheme like this is typically related to organized crime.