Full Notification

I typically arrive in the mornings to find my inbox full of emails sent to me by residents. The majority of these emails involve “forwards” (an email message that is forwarded from one source to another and another and so on). Almost all that I receive contain either all or mostly false information, that is unfortunately passed on to thousands of unsuspecting people. My schedule does not allow me the time to send residents copies of all these messages and explanations of why they contain false information. However, I recently received one that peaked my interest, especially since it had been distributed (at one time) by a well known police department (Los Angeles Police). Please see a copy below:


This memo was put out by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security and the Sheriff's Department sent it out to all of their employees. So just want you to be aware when you receive packages from UPS to verify that the delivery persons are actually UPS employees. Please feel free to share it with your family and friends as well. Just something to be aware of right now...

UPS Uniforms
Government Warning regarding purchase of UPS uniforms: There has been a huge purchase, $32,000 worth, of United Parcel Service (UPS) uniforms on eBay over the last 30 days. This could represent a serious threat as bogus drivers (terrorists) can drop off anything to anyone with deadly consequences! If you have ANY questions when a UPS driver appears at your door they should be able to furnish VALID I.D. Additionally, if someone in a UPS uniform comes to make a drop off or pick up, make absolutely sure they are driving a UPS truck. UPS doesn't make deliveries or pickups in anything, except a company vehicle. If you have a problem, call your local law enforcement agency right away! TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY! Tell everyone in your office, your family, your friends, etc. Make people aware so that we can prepare and/or avoid terrorist attacks on our people! Thank you for your time in reviewing this and PLEASE send to EVERYONE on your list, even if they are friend or foe. We should all be aware!

U.S.Department of Homeland Security
Bureau Customs and Border Protection Washington, DC20229

For full details, go to https://local.nixle.com/alert/4685215/?sub_id=546508.
Contact Information: Rudolph Valadez West Valley Area 818-374-7630 [email protected]


After reading this message, I certainly believed that this had the potential to be true, especially with the recent death of Osama Bin Laden and rumored “revenge” Al Qaeda activity. More importantly, if you look more closely, you will see that this is a copy of a NIXLE alert, followed by contact information with an LAPD email address. I did follow the link, which was in fact a real NIxle alert. Knowing that police agencies, including my own, make mistakes, I decided to do a bit more research. It didn’t take long to find the following links confirming this message is in fact FALSE (yes, another internet hoax), and that LAPD had retracted the alert (see the retraction here: https://local.nixle.com/alert/4685249/?sub_id=434590).

Read on:
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/upsuniforms.asp

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ups-uniforms-hoax.html

I will not be at all surprised if this forward quickly takes off again in the Lehigh Valley area. I’m happy to report that I won’t be falling for it, and hopefully now, you won’t either.

Stay safe.

Investigator Peter Nickischer
BLRPD