A postman ran his own cut-price stamp selling service by making hundreds of fake stamps and postage labels to sell online to customers in a brazen bid to make some easy money.
Lee Whitehead was initially caught out and interviewed about the matter but he shamelessly carried on his do-it-yourself stamps service as though nothing had happened, Hull Crown Court heard.
Whitehead, 53, of Rockley Court, Hull, admitted offering to sell items for use in fraud and supplying articles including stamps for use in fraud between June 26, 2023 and March 15 last year. He also admitted having custody or control of false stamps and PPI labels in a parcel seized outside his home on February 2 this year after it was sent to him.
Jessica Heggie, prosecuting, said that the Royal Mail was alerted in June or July 2023 about online traders selling counterfeit stamps and labels. There were email messages saying “Try using for free.” They were traced to Whitehead.
The Royal Mail did test purchases and found that the items, including stamps, labels and self-inking hand stamps, were counterfeit, meaning a potential loss of income to the Royal Mail. Whitehead was interviewed and he admitted the fraud but he did not stop his activities and carried on under the username Postman19.
He carried on trading, including on eBay, in fake stamps, PPI labels and self-inking hand stamps. Further test purchases were carried out. He claimed: “These stamps are for collectors.”
Claire Holmes, mitigating, said that Whitehead did not use his work as a postman to facilitate the offences in any way. “The information that he got was information that was freely available on the internet,” said Miss Holmes.
“Anyone could have got this information. He worked for the Royal Mail and he would have had access to the information and he knew the systems. At the end of this offending, he wasn’t working for the Royal Mail. He resigned after he was interviewed.”
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Whitehead did not make large sums of money from the fraud but he had significant printing and postage costs. “Most of the items were found and seized,” said Miss Holmes. “There wasn’t any loss to Royal Mail from those items because they weren’t ultimately used.”
Whitehead was making “only pence” on some of the items. “One of the labels was sold for as little as 10p,” said Miss Holmes. “There’s a very low risk of this man reoffending. Everyone involved in his life speaks very positively of him.”
Father-of-two Whitehead had no previous convictions. “He is truly ashamed and remorseful,” said Miss Holmes. “He is a man who has worked since he was 13. He has never been out of employment. He is working as an Uber driver.”
Whitehead was given a 20-month suspended prison sentence and 180 hours’ unpaid work.