The US Postal Service has been sending people to a sketchy website called MyMove for over 30 years when they try to change their address. The site tricks visitors into buying products they don’t want through sneaky design tricks.
MyMove looks like an official government site, but it’s actually run by a private company that makes money by selling your personal information and trapping you into subscriptions. When you just want to change your address, the site bombards you with “special offers” that are hard to decline.
A Government-Endorsed Scam
Here’s the crazy part: this isn’t some random scam site. The Postal Service officially partners with MyMove and actively sends people there. For three decades, Americans trying to do something as simple as update their address have been funneled into what experts call “an online purgatory of deals.”
The site uses what are called “dark patterns” – design tricks that manipulate you into doing things you didn’t intend. Think tiny “decline” buttons next to huge “accept” buttons, or making it nearly impossible to find the actual free address change service buried under layers of product pitches.
MyMove collects your personal details during the address change process, then sells that data to marketing companies. They know you’re moving, which makes you a prime target for everything from insurance to cable packages.
What Happens Next
Congress is starting to ask questions about why a government agency is partnering with a site that tricks citizens. But for now, MyMove continues to operate with the Postal Service’s blessing, turning a basic government service into a data harvesting operation.
