Postal Service Job Offer? Return to Sender

If you get mail, a phone call, or see an ad offering to train you to test for a government job, you might want to hear what happened to Hung Lien (Patty) Lau of Irvine.

The police say she got ripped off, big time.

It will be up to the court system to decide whether the people who have her money broke the law. Legal or not, she was shamefully scammed. Before I tell her story, here’s a message from Federal Trade Commission spokesman Howard Shapiro:

“Nobody should pay for training to get a job with any government agency. If a job is open, the government will provide any training necessary. And it won’t cost you anything.”

If only Lau had talked to him first.

Lau is an immigrant who came from Taiwan six years ago to join her two adult sons. She’d had a couple of low-paying jobs, the last at a preschool. But out of work four months, she wanted something with a future.

Then came an unsolicited flier in the mail from the Federal Training Institute of Fullerton, with large headlines that got her attention:

“Looking for a better job? . . . Many Positions Open Every Year . . . Train yourself now to score high to seek a future in the U.S. Postal Service.”

The rest was pretty heady stuff to Lau too. “No experience required, automatic pay raises, excellent retirement programs.” And then “Green Card Acceptable.” Lau is here on a green card, and worried which places would hire her because of it. This sounded perfect.

Also, the name Federal Training Institute seemed so official to Lau. Surely these people must be very good friends with the Postal Service.

So she wound up at the Federal Training Institute’s nice office on Langsford Drive, just south of Cal State Fullerton.

I can’t say with certainty what happened, because the Federal Training Institute has declined to return my numerous telephone calls. And its office in Fullerton was closed last week. But Lau says:

“The first question on the sheet of paper they told me to sign says that I read and write English well. I tell the lady I know very little English. She says, did I understand her? I say yes, so she say, ‘That’s good enough.’ ”

Other questions Lau was asked to initial makes it pretty clear that the Federal Training Institute does not “promise or guarantee anyone a position with the U.S. Postal Service.” But Lau says she never understood that. All she knows is, the interviewer told her she’d probably be working at the Post Office within three months.

Then came the cost: $2,288.

That’s right. Over two grand for a few hours of their time. You can pay with your Discover card, Lau was told.

Lau knew that was a lot of money. But then, compare that to her great future delivering people’s mail. She paid.

Here’s how it broke down, in the documents she showed me: $904.87 for a two-volume postal training course with 13 audio cassette tapes, $572 in processing costs, $495 for course direction and $246 in start-up fees. Add $70.13 in tax.

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Of course, here are some things that the Federal Training Institute did not tell Lau.

One, there are no regular postal positions open in Orange County right now.

Two, if there were any openings, the U.S. Postal Service offers its own, free training for taking its test.

Three, you can get the same information that’s in those tapes and books at almost any public library. Again, for free.

Most of this Lau learned from friends and her own sons just hours after she’d paid. So she called the Federal Training Institute the next day to say she wanted out.

But no one there would return her telephone calls. Lau says she was told not to read the books or listen to the tapes until after she’d had her one afternoon of orientation. So on orientation day, she returned to say she wanted out. Sorry, was the answer, no refunds.

So she wrote its director, Robert Wise, explaining why she believed she’d been misled.

The Federal Training Institute wrote back: “We regret to inform you that we must deny your request for termination of the program, and we will not refund your payment.”

Lau is a mild-mannered person who speaks broken English at best. But she’s not as vulnerable as she may have appeared to the people who took her money. Determined, would be a better word.

Lau took her case to any government agency she thought might listen. Her story ended up with the Monterey Police Department’s Det. Samantha Nishimura, because that city is where the Federal Training Institute had its original headquarters. Soon after that, Nishimura and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service served search warrants at Federal Training Institute offices in Fullerton, Rosemead and Van Nuys. Arrested on suspicion of grand theft in Lau’s case were Robert Wise and Robert Wise II, his son. They have posted bail, and their court case is pending.

Lau was unaware until I told her that the two leaders of the Federal Training Institute had been arrested. While she was pleased, it doesn’t do anything to get her money back. She intends to seek restitution by taking them to Small Claims Court. She had to borrow money from family to pay off the bill from the Discover card.

“I am just so ashamed I didn’t seek advice first,” she kept saying. “I just hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

The Federal Trade Commission cannot comment directly on this case. But it has initiated a consumer protection campaign it calls “Stamp Out Job Fraud.” It’s aimed specifically at companies that try to lure customers with the promise of a Postal Service job. The FTC also filed its own charges against 11 companies across the country it claims engages in such practices.

Although the FTC did not release how many complaints it received against the 11 companies, it does estimate that about 250,000 people per month make at least an initial response to calls from such companies nationwide. Said Jodie Bernstein, director of the commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection: “The FTC and the U.S. Postal Service are working together to stop scam artists from taking advantage of consumers looking for postal jobs.”

I was surprised to discover how coveted a post office job really is.

The last “registry” (testing for job openings) in Orange County was last year, and it drew close to 25,000 applicants, said Terri Bouffiou, a Postal Service spokeswoman. While some part-time, no-benefit jobs are open in Orange County, those do not require anybody to take a test.

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Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday and Thursday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7789 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com.