Mail theft is a federal crime that can carry serious penalties, fines, restitution, and even jail time. One Arizona woman found herself in the middle of such a case, with what started as a few missing packages turning into something straight out of a detective movie.
After losing not one but two Baggu orders through USPS, she decided she’d had enough. What followed was an elaborate plan involving an AirTag, a fake package, and eventually, the arrest of a postal worker who’d allegedly been stealing for years.
‘Something Weird Is Going On’
TikTok creator Tyla (@talyack) shared the full story in a two-part video series that’s racked up over 350,000 views.
“I’d ordered a Baggu package back in mid-June,” she begins. “It said it was out for delivery, but it never showed up. I got other packages that day, but not that one.”
When she went to her local USPS office to ask about it, employees told her the package was “lost.” Baggu replaced the order, but the replacement vanished in the exact same way.
After the second package went missing, Tyla says she went back to USPS and noticed something strange. “I saw the manager and the supervisor laughing about this. I was like, something weird is going on here,” she says. “Why are they laughing about me complaining about packages going missing?”
That was when she decided to take matters into her own hands.
The AirTag Trap
Baggu sent her a refund, and Tyla ordered her items again, but this time, she shipped them to a P.O. box across town. The package arrived safely, confirming her suspicion that the theft was happening locally.
Then she hatched her plan. Using the same packaging, she carefully opened it, replaced the contents with an old purse stuffed with trash, and hid an AirTag inside. “I cut the lining open and put the AirTag under the buckle,” she says. “You couldn’t even tell.”
She then drove 40 minutes away to mail the package to herself, ensuring it would pass through multiple USPS facilities, including the one near her home where her items kept disappearing.
The tracking began. First, the package stopped at a Phoenix facility, then another on McDowell Road, and finally, it arrived at the post office where everything had gone missing before.
That’s when things got interesting.
Following the Signal
Tyla says she noticed the AirTag had stopped moving. “It said my package was sitting in this gated apartment complex for hours,” she explains. “So I drove over, and it said I was right beside it—but there was no USPS truck anywhere.”
By the time she got home, her regular postal carrier was making deliveries. But the AirTag still showed the package across town. “That’s when I knew someone had stolen it again,” she says.
The next day, the AirTag pinged back at her local USPS facility. When she went to ask for it, staff insisted they didn’t have her package. “But I could literally see on my app that it was right beside me in the building,” she says.
She came back later that day. “The guy went in the back and came out five minutes later with my package—but it had been ripped open,” she says. “He said it was in the ‘lost and found bin,’ which makes no sense. He just said, ‘I had an intuition.’”
At that point, Tyla says she knew something was up. “It was clearly an employee,” she explains. “That area isn’t open to the public, and there are cameras everywhere.”
Enter the FBI
Tyla says she had already reported her missing mail to USPS, but after this, the case escalated. “The next day, an FBI agent called me,” she says. “Apparently, USPS has its own police division for internal crimes.”
The agent asked for timestamps from her AirTag. “They matched it to the GPS in the delivery truck,” she says. “Turns out it wasn’t my driver—it was another employee stealing from other people’s trucks.”
According to Tyla, the woman had been stealing for nine years and reselling items online, including luxury goods, baby products, and even her missing Baggu orders.
When the FBI began setting up hidden cameras in the employee’s truck, Tyla says the woman “suddenly started calling in sick.” But soon, an artist whose handmade shirts went missing saw them for sale on Poshmark—and the return address matched the same USPS worker.
“That’s when they got her,” Tyla says.
‘She Was Paying Taxes on Stolen Stuff’
Tyla explains that investigators obtained a search warrant and arrested the woman at her apartment. “They found nine years’ worth of tax forms,” Tyla says. “She had been paying taxes on the stuff she stole and resold. She just had a problem with stealing.”
According to Tyla, the worker resigned the same day. The FBI told her it could take up to two years before sentencing, but she’ll eventually be reimbursed for the stolen items.
As for the $100,000 reward advertised on USPS posters, she doesn’t expect to see it. “The agent told me, ‘I doubt you’ll get any money,’” she says. “But honestly, I’m just glad my stuff isn’t going missing anymore.”
Since the woman’s arrest, Tyla says her new Baggu orders have all arrived without issue.
Can She Actually Get the USPS Reward?
Technically, yes. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service does offer rewards of up to $150,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of someone who steals mail or postal property. But the keyword there is ‘up to.’
The payout isn’t automatic, and it’s decided by the Chief Postal Inspector based on how useful the information was, the risks involved, and the results of the case.
To qualify, the person has to file an official claim after the suspect is convicted, not just arrested. And since Tyla’s tip came from her own AirTag investigation, not one formally coordinated by postal inspectors, it’s possible they’ll view it as outside the scope of their program.
@talyack *GO WATCH PART 2 ON MY PAGE AFTER THIS!* PART 1 about the USPS Baggu thief @BAGGU #baggu #storytime #usps #story ♬ original sound – Talya ?️?️?️?️
Viewers are shocked and impressed
In the comments, people couldn’t believe how far she went to catch the thief.
“Wait, this happened to my package too!” one user wrote. Another added, “Yep, that happened with multiple of my husband’s Limited Run orders. I got a postal employee fired.”
Others praised Baggu for how they handled the situation. “They shipped three times and refunded you? That’s amazing customer service.”
And one person summed it up perfectly: “Discreet packaging should be standard for every company.”
The Mary Sue has reached out to Baggu and USPS via email, and contacted Tyla via Instagram messages for comment.
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