From Hershey’s Mill HOA email December 6, 2022
CAUTION!
Why you should never mail a Check
Planning to mail checks as Gifts this season? Or still paying your bills by mailing a check?
If you’re still mailing checks to pay your bills, there is a scam that can cost you a lot of money and even lead to having your identity stolen.
The U.S. Postal Service has a warning on its website about mail theft, and how thieves are targeting mailboxes.
Thieves are looking for checks and they are targeting the mailboxes just outside the Post Office. They are then ‘washing the checks’, altering the dollar amounts and the Payee and cashing the checks.
Postal Inspection Service: https://www.uspis.gov/tips-prevention/mail-theft
This is happening all over the country. It is not limited to an isolated area or ‘bad’ neighborhoods.
Two Examples:
This past spring, an Illinois man mailed two checks using the box outside his local post office. The combined total of the checks was less than $50.00. Days later, his bank told him that the checks had been altered by more than $8,000 — each.
https://thesouthern.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/cook-county-man-mailed-2-checks-for-less-than-50-they-were-altered-and-cashed/article_8c88bb43-0b8c-519c-89bf-d0fcccd218b6.html
More recently, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that a Chicago resident wrote a $30 check and put it in a USPS mailbox. It was intercepted and cashed for $9,475.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/10/12/23343310/check-fraud-washing-mail-postal-service-usps-bank-fraud
In both of these cases, the crime involved “washing” checks.
What Is Check ‘Washing’ and How Does It Work?
According to the U. S. Postal Service:
“Washing” a check involves “changing the payee names and often the dollar amounts on checks and fraudulently depositing them.” “Occasionally, these checks are stolen from mailboxes and washed in chemicals to remove the ink. Some scammers will even use copiers or scanners to print fake copies of a check.”
https://www.uspis.gov/news/scam-article/check-washing
Sometimes, checks are printed at a check-printing service. Now, they have a box of your checks that they can write any time.
Check-Washing: How To Avoid This Check Mailing Scam
Don’t Put a Check in the Post Office’s Blue Mailboxes
The Postal Service, in its own alert about this, says, don’t put a check in the Post Office’s Blue Mailboxes. If you are mailing something with a check – a bill payment or a gift – don’t use the outside mailboxes. Go inside the post office and drop it in their secure box.
Pay Electronically if You Can
Use the bill-paying service of your bank, credit union or brokerage firm, which should all be free. Most banks, credit unions and brokerages don’t charge for bill pay anymore.
Final Thoughts
Don’t send checks or cash through the mail.
Deposit mail inside the Post Office close to pick up time.
When shipping packages this holiday season, or any time, consider using the ‘Hold for Pick Up’ option. This allows recipients to pick up the package at their local Post Office.
If it is important, consider using ‘Signature Confirmation’.
Check your account regularly to determine if any fraudulent transactions have occurred.