Stop mailing your checks IMMEDIATELY! This bit of advice is crucial if you want to avoid being a victim of the latest mailbox scam by thieves.
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If you still pay your bills by check and are used to dropping the stamped payment in your corner mailbox, it’s imperative that you stop that old practice ASAP! Crooks have found a way to intercept your checks, change the “Pay To The Order Of” name and check amount, then cash the check and walk away with your hard-earned cash.
Here’s how the mailbox scam works: during late night hours when no one is around, thieves drop a sticky “fishing rod” into a local mailbox on the street and grab mail out of the box. They open every envelope until they find 1 (or more) with a check enclosed. From there, the checks get “washed” by criminals, utilizing a special process that removes pen ink from the face of a check. That leaves the crooks free to change the recipient’s name on the check and add an extra zero or 2 to the dollar amount.
After cashing the check, they keep your cash and your bill goes unpaid — usually unbeknownst to you — until it’s too late to stop it or do anything about it.
The mailbox scam originated in the New York/New Jersey area but has quickly spread across the country.
In order to avoid becoming an unsuspecting victim of this new scam, pay your bills online and avoid mailing checks altogether. If you must mail a check for any purpose, USPS officials are recommending that you ONLY drop a check-enclosed envelope inside a postal mail facility. By only mailing checks inside an actual post office, thieves are unable to conduct their “sticky fishing” scam inside a US Postal building in front of postal workers.
Additionally, the USPS suggests the following tips to protect yourself:
- Don’t send cash in the mail.
- Use your bank’s bill pay to send paper checks directly to the recipient.
- Only mail letters directly at the post office.
- Use mailboxes that have slots, not doors. The slots help limit unauthorized access to the contents of the mailbox.
- Make friends with your mail carrier and hand them your outgoing mail directly.
- If you must drop your mail in a mailbox, double-check to make sure it isn’t getting stuck on the way down. If it is, report it immediately to the USPS.
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