Yes, thieves can steal your money by overwriting checks left in your mailbox.

Receipt washing is a form of fraud that has been rampant since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s what you need to know about it.

Eat post a notice online that an old form of low-tech fraud called “check washing” is on the rise. It involves thieves stealing checks from mailboxes and rewriting them.

But can someone really steal your money through postal checks?

QUESTION

Can thieves steal your money by overwriting checks left in your mailbox?

SOURCES

ANSWER

Yes, thieves can steal your money by overwriting checks left in your mailbox.

WHAT WE FOUND

“Check washing” is a form of check fraud in which a fraudster steals a completed and signed check from a mailbox or mailbox, uses household chemicals to erase everything but the signature, and then rewrites the check to send the money to themselves.

This is a well-documented form of scam that criminals have been using for years. In 2010, the Association of Certified Fraud Investigators issued a check-washing warning that flagged many of the same tactics that authorities are warning about today. SQN Banking Systems, a check fraud protection firm, reports that losses from check-flushing programs exceeded $800 million last year.

According to the AARP, thieves can access your checks in several ways. The easiest way is to simply withdraw checks from unblocked mailboxes. Another way is to steal or copy the operator key to get into the USPS mailbox. Even if a burglar doesn’t have a key, he can sometimes get checks in USPS collection boxes by “fishing them out with string and something sticky, like a sticky rodent trap or a bottle covered in glue.”

Once they receive the checks, scammers can use cheap chemicals like bleach or nail polish remover to remove the name and amount of the payee, AARP says. They often write off a dollar amount to replace it with a much larger payment, sometimes hundreds or thousands of dollars more, according to FinCEN, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network.

Sometimes the person who stole the check simply cashes it. In other cases, FinCEN says, a person will copy, print and sell blank checks online via the dark web or encrypted social media platforms.

How to avoid becoming a victim of check washing?

The easiest and most effective way to avoid becoming a victim of a check-washing crime is to not use checks at all. If it’s possible to pay your bill online from a secure network, then you should do so instead of using a check, says AARP. The Better Business Bureau states that online banking is generally safe as long as you use strong passwords and protect your data by not sharing personal information in unsolicited emails, calls, or text messages.

If you need to mail a check, do not leave it in a mailbox or leave it in an outdoor USPS collection box. The US Postal Inspectorate says you should send your checks directly from your local post office, and if you’re going to use the blue mailbox, drop your mail just before the last pickup.

The Better Business Bureau Serving Central East Texas also recommends using high security checks and writing on these checks with a gel pen instead of a ballpoint pen. Both high security controls and gel pens are labeled accordingly when they go on sale. The AARP states that indelible gel ink, in particular, can be harder to remove than ballpoint pen ink.

Also, do not leave incoming mail in the mailbox for a long time. If you are away from home for an extended period of time, the Postal Inspectorate recommends that your mail be stored at the post office or that it be collected by a trusted friend.

Finally, check your bank account regularly. This won’t necessarily stop someone from stealing your check, but it can help you discover that someone has stolen the check while you still have time to fix the situation.

What should I do if I think someone may have stolen and washed my check?

If you detect suspicious activity on your bank account, contact your bank immediately. The AARP states that banks are generally required to refund money stolen from your account through fraudulent checks, but only if the fraud is reported within 30 days of the bank statement date.

FinCEN says that someone who steals a check may also receive other mail from you and may use your personal information for other schemes, such as credit card or credit account fraud. For this reason, AARP recommends that you also contact credit reporting agencies.

The American Bankers Association recommends immediately reporting check washing offenses to your financial institution, the US Postal Inspection Service, and your local police department.

The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so you can understand what is true and what is false. Consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat. tweet, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. To learn more “

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The post Yes, thieves can steal your money by overwriting checks left in your mailbox.

first appeared on Texas Standard News.

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