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The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering a reward of as much as $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for mailing several threatening letters containing suspicious powders to branches and card processing facilities of financial institutions around the country. The letters contained a "powdery substance" and an "articulated threat of bodily harm," says a statement issued by the Postal Inspection Service. Ross Rice, special agent and spokesperson for the Chicago office of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, tells CardLine that a JPMorgan Chase & Co. card processing facility in Elgin, Ill. received two of the letters, on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18, each of which contained a white powder that tests later found to be harmless. "It appears the letters in Elgin were part of a larger scheme targeting Chase Bank branches as well as other financial institutions around the country," Rice says. The FBI is not releasing the names of other financial institutions, but a statement released by the national FBI office says more than 45 letters have been received in at least 11 states.
