Mail theft may sound quaint in an age of ransomware, but an old paper-based scam looks to be roaring back, and it’s hitting taxpayers, Social Security and unemployment recipients, and everyday bill-payers who send their payments via snail mail. “Check washing” incidents are climbing fast, per the Washington Post: Reports of check fraud cited by the FBI and US Postal Service nearly doubled between 2021 and 2022, and high-volume mail theft is up roughly 2,000% since 2010, according to the Postal Police Officers Association. “This is not about lost birthday cards anymore,” says Frank Albergo, the group’s president. “We’ve entered an era of organized postal crime.”
Thieves steal mailed checks and use common chemicals found in the home (e.g., bleach, acetone) to erase the payee and amount, then rewrite the checks to themselves and cash in. Because banks rely heavily on automated processing, many altered checks sail through. The Post details the ordeal of a California couple whose check to the IRS was rewritten and cashed, leaving them on the hook for about $12,000 in taxes, interest, and penalties—and initially outside Chase’s fraud-reporting deadline.
Only after the newspaper’s inquiry did the bank track down and refund most of the money. The Post also lays out specific prevention steps, from using gel ink and more-secure payments (including electronic ones), to avoiding putting up the little flag on your mailbox to alert the postal carrier you have outgoing mail. The FBI offers some tips of its own, though this Long Island woman says she was scammed out of $16,000 despite taking some of the recommended precautions.
