ben shekelberg 
BOSTON – A Florida man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston in connection with the fraudulent abuse of the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) Informed Delivery electronic notification system.
Fred Alcius, 34, of Lauderhill, Fla., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to 25 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay over $177,000 in restitution joint and severally with other defendants. In December 2020, Alcius pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
In June 2019, Alcius was indicted along with co-defendant Lucson Appolon, who previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison. Co-conspirators Peter Belony and Kevens Louis were previously sentenced to 24 and 27 months in prison, respectively.
Informed Delivery is a free electronic notification service provided by the USPS that gives residential and P.O. Box customers the ability to digitally preview their incoming mail and manage their packages.
The defendants accessed victims’ personal identifying information, including names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and addresses on the “dark web” and then used the information to open credit cards in the victims’ names. The defendants then subscribed to Informed Delivery using the victims’ personal identifying information and a fraudulent email address created to track the delivery of credit cards to the victims’ residential mailboxes. The defendants subsequently intercepted the credit cards at the victims’ mailboxes before the victims could receive them and used those credit cards at ATMs and to purchase gift cards and other items for resale at Apple and Walmart, among other retail establishments. The defendants traveled to states along the East Coast in furtherance of the fraud, including Maine and Massachusetts.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell and Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mackenzie A. Queenin of Mendell’s Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit and Raquelle Kaye of Mendell’s Asset Recovery Unit prosecuted the case.
