In this time of frauds perpetrated by people in other states or even countries, an old-fashioned check fraud has increased in popularity with criminals. Check washing is where a criminal takes a check that someone has written, then erases the recipient in the “to” line and the amount, usually with nail polish remover, then fills in a new person as the recipient and a new amount, often more than the original amount.
The U.S.
Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) has warned the public about postal thieves
stealing mail looking for checks to wash. Between March 2020 through February
2021, USPIS says that it received more than 299,000 complaints of mail theft, a
161% increase from the year before. While thieves look for many things in the mail,
such as credit cards, cash, and personal information such as bank account or
credit card numbers from statements, a major component for the increase in mail
theft is check washing. According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
(FINCEN), an arm of the U.S. Treasury Department, banks nearly doubled the
number of reports of check fraud in 2022 to 680,000 reports from 350,000 in 2021.
According to
at least one criminal justice academic, check washing has migrated from local
criminals washing a few checks stolen from residential mailboxes to organized
groups stealing mail from blue Postal Service collection boxes.
What can you
do to prevent becoming a check washing victim? Here are some ideas,
·
Pay your bills online. This is the safest and quickest way to pay your bills.
·
Deliver your mail to a
post office. Don’t leave your check in
your own mailbox for pickup. Especially if you need to raise the red flag to
let the letter carrier know you have outgoing mail. That flag is a sure sign to
a mail thief to take your mail. Take your check directly to your local post
office. Don’t leave it in the blue box outside but take it inside to the
outgoing mail slot or box inside.
·
Use a pen with blue or
black non-erasable gel ink. Gel ink is more
difficult to remove than ball point ink.
·
Don’t let delivered mail
sit in your mailbox. Collect the mail in your
mailbox as soon as you can after delivery, at least once a day. If you are
away, ask a trusted neighbor to pick up your mail or have the post office hold
your mail until you return.
·
Monitor your bank account. Check your bank account online every few days.
·
Report incidents quickly. Contact your bank as soon as possible after suspicious activity;
banks are generally required to replace funds stolen via fraudulent checks, but
only if the scam is reported within 30 days of the date of your bank statement.
Also, contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and credit reporting agencies.
Seattle Times:
AARP Fraud Watch Network:
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2023/stop-check-washers.html
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network:
U.S. Postal Inspection Service:
https://www.uspis.gov/news/scam-article/check-washing
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