Amy Scott

Postal Inspection Service.

That's the law enforcement wing of the postal system.

Cracking down on the sellers of fake stamps has become a game of whack-a-mole, she says.

We are doing our best to shut these websites down, but there are millions of them that just keep popping up.

The agency tries to catch counterfeits as they come into the country.

Agents seized more than 4.4 million fake stamps in the first quarter of this fiscal year, according to Barragan Houston.

But that may be just a drop in the bucket.

The stamp journalist Youngblood estimates the Postal Service is losing more than a billion dollars annually on counterfeit stamps.

which is part of the reason the price of stamps keeps going up.

Berrigan-Husted wouldn't confirm that estimate, but she acknowledged it's hitting USPS hard.

We still have to make up that revenue, so it's because of the problem that the cost has risen.

It was time to lay this all out for my dad, the online stamp buyer, and also the most upstanding guy I know.

I didn't want to get him in trouble, especially on a national radio program.

It turns out the Postal Inspection Service is mostly focused on punishing the suppliers of counterfeit stamps, not unwitting consumers.

So, Dad, what if I told you those stamps are probably counterfeit?

You do risk having your mail confiscated and opened if you use fake stamps, but it's unclear how often that actually happens.

Yeah.

but they're probably still counterfeit.

I should add, you can buy legit stamps online, and even at a slight discount, from a few select vendors like Stamps.com and through big box stores like Costco.

But if the discount is more than a few cents per stamp, chances are they're not real.