Title 18, Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-102
§1712 Falsification of Postal Returns to Increase Compensation
Title 18 › PART I — CRIMES › CHAPTER 83 — POSTAL SERVICE › § 1712
Summary
Postal Service officers or employees who falsify required reports or records to fraudulently raise their own, the postmaster’s, or another employee’s pay, or who knowingly steer mail that belongs at another post office into their office to boost earnings, commit a crime. They can be fined under federal law, jailed up to two years, or both.
Full Legal Text
Title 18, §1712
Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, makes a false return, statement, or account to any officer of the United States, or makes a false entry in any record, book, or account, required by law or the rules or regulations of the Postal Service to be kept in respect of the business or operations of any post office or other branch of the Postal Service, for the purpose of fraudulently increasing his compensation or the compensation of the postmaster or any employee in a post office; or Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee in any post office or station thereof, for the purpose of increasing the emoluments or compensation of his office, induces, or attempts to induce, any person to deposit mail matter in, or forward in any manner for mailing at, the office where such officer or employee is employed, knowing such matter to be properly mailable at another post office— Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 329 and on section 172 of title 39, U.S.C., 1940 ed., The Postal Service (Aug. 4, 1886, ch. 901, § 3, 24 Stat. 221; Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, § 206, 35 Stat. 1128;
June 10, 1921, ch. 18, § 304, 42 Stat. 24). Said sections were consolidated. The texts of the two sections were substantially identical except that said section 172 of title 39, U.S.C., 1940 ed., provided that “whenever, upon evidence deemed satisfactory to him, the Postmaster General shall determine that any such false return has been made, he may, by order, fix absolutely the compensation of the postmaster for such special delivery during any quarter or quarters which he shall deem affected by such false return, and the General Accounting Office shall adjust the postmaster’s account accordingly”, the words “General Accounting Office” having been substituted for “Auditor” on the authority of the act of
June 10, 1921, shown in the credits above. This particular language was omitted because such powers and duties as it prescribes would devolve upon the Postmaster General without legislation and also because said section 172 of Title 39, which was derived from the act of
August 4, 1886, shown in the credits above, was impliedly repealed by the general repealing clause of section 341 of the Criminal Code of 1909. section 208 of that Code contained the provisions which formed the basis for said section 329 of Title 18. Reference in said section 329 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., to persons assisting, causing or procuring was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “principal” in section 2 of this title. Minor verbal changes were made.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $500” in last par. 1970—Pub. L. 91–375 substituted “Postal Service officer or employee” for “postmaster or Postal Service employee” and “Postal Service” for “Post Office Department” after “rules or
Regulations
of the” in first par. and “Postal Service officer or employee” and “officer or employee” for “postmaster or employee” and “postmaster or other person” in second par., respectively.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1970 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by Board of Governors of United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an
Effective Date
note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
18 U.S.C. § 1712
Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102