Who steals checks out of the mail these days? Isn't that like 1980s crime?

[wendibird22]

My mom (mid 70s) got a call from a bank on Saturday asking if she'd written a check for $900 to XX company because a man was currently there trying to cash it. She of course hadn't. The teller called because the check appeared to have been wetted/water damage, the printing on it was horrible, and because my mom has accounts with that bank they could look up all her past checks and see that she has very distinctive handwriting that this check was not done it. Teller provided her with a check number and sure enough, my mom had written that check to pay her credit card bill and put in in the mail a week ago by dropping it off in a post office box at the main branch in her city where the boxes get emptied several times a day. So I assume someone who works for the postal service swiped her mail and check.

The bank of course refused the man to cash it and my mom immediately drove to her branch and they assigned her all new checking account number, new ATM card, etc. I encouraged her to call the non emergency police number today to file a report (surprised that bank didn't do this??) and call her credit card company to report that her payment will be delayed (it'll take 2 weeks to receive her new checks) so that she doesn't get charged a late fee and interest.

Stealing paper checks out of the mail and altering them just seems like an old school crime to me! What a hassle for my mom and her bank accounts (she can't write a check or access cash at the ATM until the new stuff arrives) but so grateful the astute bank teller caught the fraud. My mom is a SUPER anxious person who was completely unnerved by the incident but I told her not to fret that the system obviously worked...she lost no money, she isn't victim of identity theft, etc. As far as attempted crimes go, this was a best case scenario. And here she thought she was being the safety person on the planet by avoiding online shopping and online bill pay!!

[jgenie]

So sorry this happened to your mom. Glad it was caught before the check was cashed. It’s been happening with increased frequency in our area. Lots of seniors put payments in their mailboxes overnight with the little red flag alerting everyone there’s something inside. Our towns have issued warnings to residents not to mail payments from our boxes but to drop off at the post office instead. We also had local trouble with people stealing payments from the outdoor mailbox at the post office. It used to be a drive through spot but they moved it to just outside the front door with cameras now.

[roobee]

I'm sorry this happened! Amazing that the teller identified the fraud though!

I recently saw something online about USPS warning to not put mail in blue boxes. It was related to making tax payments and looked like clickbait - but I clicked anyway! It appeared to be true about USPS issuing that warning... here's what I found on Google just now https://www.phillyvoice.com/us-postal-service-drop-boxes-targeted-theft/

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[Mikey0709]

I'm in philly suburbs and this has been widely happening all around me! We have had warnings not to use your personal mailbox or ANY outside blue box for outgoing mail. USPS said only safe way was to drop off INSIDE a post office. But on another spin they thought it could have been an inside job - so not sure that is even safe. We had been warned to use certain pens that can't be washed - like a felt tip i think. Hard to believe this is happening now and EXTREMELY often in my area. I read one area (King of Prussia, PA) many had their local tax checks stolen and washed - so much the tax collector has been posting daily FB updates telling everyone to call and verify your payment was received.

[khm]

My mom (mid 70s) got a call from a bank on Saturday asking if she'd written a check for $900 to XX company because a man was currently there trying to cash it. She of course hadn't. The teller called because the check appeared to have been wetted/water damage, the printing on it was horrible, and because my mom has accounts with that bank they could look up all her past checks and see that she has very distinctive handwriting that this check was not done it. Teller provided her with a check number and sure enough, my mom had written that check to pay her credit card bill and put in in the mail a week ago by dropping it off in a post office box at the main branch in her city where the boxes get emptied several times a day. So I assume someone who works for the postal service swiped her mail and check.

The bank of course refused the man to cash it and my mom immediately drove to her branch and they assigned her all new checking account number, new ATM card, etc. I encouraged her to call the non emergency police number today to file a report (surprised that bank didn't do this??) and call her credit card company to report that her payment will be delayed (it'll take 2 weeks to receive her new checks) so that she doesn't get charged a late fee and interest.

Stealing paper checks out of the mail and altering them just seems like an old school crime to me! What a hassle for my mom and her bank accounts (she can't write a check or access cash at the ATM until the new stuff arrives) but so grateful the astute bank teller caught the fraud. My mom is a SUPER anxious person who was completely unnerved by the incident but I told her not to fret that the system obviously worked...she lost no money, she isn't victim of identity theft, etc. As far as attempted crimes go, this was a best case scenario. And here she thought she was being the safety person on the planet by avoiding online shopping and online bill pay!!

I've also seen warnings of the resurgence of this old crime on TV and in news articles. It's definitely on the upswing!!

Guess it's still low-skill and works enough that its worth it.

I don't remember the locales but they showed drop boxes that were completely closed off so they weren't able to be used at all. It's a definite pain for people who need to use dropboxes vs. going into a post office.

[ett]

We've had issues with checks being stolen here. The police has warned people not to put checks in the blue mailboxes and to drop them off inside the post office.

[wendibird22]

Fascinating that you all have had local warnings about this. We've had none, and I watch the local news regularly. My mom thought that by going to a blue box at the main city branch, that would be safer and more timely than her local tiny town office. Not like it's a blue box on a street corner. It is in front of the main branch which is high security, cameras, etc. She said she always goes when she knows the boxes will be pretty empty so that someone can't just reach down in and grab it back out. She distinctly remembers hearing her mail hit the bottom of the blue box. That's why we were suspecting inside job, like a mail sorter or the person who empties the blue box. But good info to know from you all that this is a issue elsewhere. I'll definitely tell her not to use blue box or her mailbox for mailing checks (and I'll keep on paying my bills virtually!).

[liz]

Wow, didn't think this was a thing to worry about anymore! I'll make sure to pass along this info to my family. I've been using my mailbox more frequently (putting the red flag up and all) to send in my payments. For sure will avoid that now!

[NCGrandma]

We've had issues with checks being stolen here. The police has warned people not to put checks in the blue mailboxes and to drop them off inside the post office.

The small NE town where my family lives has had frequent reports of checks being stolen from the blue boxes outside the PO for quite a while. Apparently the thieves have some sort of "fishing rod" apparatus that lets them get in and out very quickly. Very inconvenient to try to avoid this possibility.


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[ett]

Fascinating that you all have had local warnings about this. We've had none, and I watch the local news regularly. My mom thought that by going to a blue box at the main city branch, that would be safer and more timely than her local tiny town office. Not like it's a blue box on a street corner. It is in front of the main branch which is high security, cameras, etc. She said she always goes when she knows the boxes will be pretty empty so that someone can't just reach down in and grab it back out. She distinctly remembers hearing her mail hit the bottom of the blue box. That's why we were suspecting inside job, like a mail sorter or the person who empties the blue box. But good info to know from you all that this is a issue elsewhere. I'll definitely tell her not to use blue box or her mailbox for mailing checks (and I'll keep on paying my bills virtually!).

I believe it is also insider jobs with workers who have access to the keys.

[Gracemom]

My mom had a check taken from the collection basket at church and wiped. Thankfully her bank caught it too. She was so upset.

[khm]

Here's a couple articles about it. They're thinking maybe the stimulus and PPP checks re-opened the door to "check washing". Add in that it was just tax time, so there were a lot of checks to be "fished" out of boxes.

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2023/stop-check-washers.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/your-money/check-fraud-protection.html

This one involved a stolen key.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/sam-wolo-bruno-nyanue-gransae-manue-drexel-hill-check-washing-20221004.html

[wendibird22]

My mom had a check taken from the collection basket at church and wiped. Thankfully her bank caught it too. She was so upset.

Oh that's next level lowest of the low!

[carolinamama]

My mom had a check taken from the collection basket at church and wiped. Thankfully her bank caught it too. She was so upset.

Wow that's disheartening. Bad enough when it's out of a mailbox but feels so low out of the collection basket at a church.

[LD92599]

It happens! We've had it happen with checks from our company (through the banks bill pay).....someone intercepted it and add a zero. Or a few zero's. They were able to cash the check for $8,000. We're currently waiting for the funds to be returned to us. The bank did reach out to me/company as it did appear fraudulent.