Even in this age of sophisticated online fraud, the old-fashioned kind, carried out on hard copy, is still alive and well.
Check-washing schemes are on the rise, officials say, and unsuspecting people are paying the price.
There’s the woman from the Southwest Side, who, as she told Sun-Times reporter David Struett, mailed a $30 check as a school donation in September — only to find out three days later that someone had stolen it, “washed” it by erasing the ink, then rewritten the payee and the amount and cashed it for $9,475.81.
An employee of their bank told them seven other customers had also been recent victims of the same fraud. And even more Chicagoans are now telling similar stories, especially in the wake of Struett’s reporting on Tuesday.
There are steps you can take to protect yourself, such as using pens with indelible gel ink that cannot be erased or “washed out” with chemicals. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, as well, must do everything possible to protect mail carriers from the uptick in armed robberies in which thieves steal master keys that allow them to rob mailboxes on the street and in building lobbies.
“Organized type of crime”
But meanwhile, potentially thousands of people have been victims of check-washing schemes. One Georgia State University expert, David Maimon, calls it “a very organized type of crime” in which stolen checks can be sold for hundreds of dollars on the dark corners of the internet.
Maimon’s Evidence-Based Cybersecurity Research Group found more than 1,000 checks stolen from Illinoisans on sale on the dark web between December 2021 and May 2022 — and thieves have hit other states even harder.
More than 17,000 cases of check fraud — which includes check washing — have been reported in Illinois so far this year, up from 13,000 cases in 2021 and more than triple the 5,360 cases in 2014, according to U.S. Treasury Department data.
The uptick in stolen checks — which are then “washed” and cashed by thieves — was linked to a significant increase in robberies of USPS letter carriers for their master keys, according to a March memo from the Postal Inspection Service to the Justice Department. Master keys, which can be sold online for $800 to $2,500 depending on the wealth of the area in which the mailboxes are located.
In July, several Illinois lawmakers asked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy what steps the U.S. Postal Service is taking to combat the armed robberies. It’s not encouraging that the response from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has been “insufficient,” as Sen. Dick Durbin told the Sun-Times on Wednesday.
It’s understandable that USPIS would hesitate to reveal its anti-crime strategies publicly and put would-be thieves on alert. But lawmakers, we believe, should have the chance to weigh in on whether those strategies are adequate and determine other steps that might be needed.
As for the rest of us: Not everyone wants to use online bill payment or digital payment services such as Venmo or Zelle. And with the holiday season approaching — a time when mail volume surges and more of us often send checks as gifts to relatives, friends and charities — how can you protect yourself?
First, as we noted, be sure to use a pen with indelible gel ink. Banks, as well, should have them available for customers.
Some suggestions from USPIS: Deposit mail at a post office or just before the last pickup of the day in outdoor blue mailboxes; never leave mail in your mailbox overnight; and have your mail held at the post office, or picked up by a relative or friend, when on vacation.
If you do become a victim of check washing, report the crime to USPIS at (877) 876-2455.
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