- Check fraud linked to mail theft has surged across the country.
- Reports of check fraud filed by banks nearly doubled to 680,000 in 2022.
- In one common approach known as 'check washing', criminals steal signed checks and rewrite them for a larger sum.
- Criminals sell copies of washed checks online or stolen master keys to access Postal Service collection boxes.
- The Postal Service is working on making blue boxes more secure.
Check Fraud Is on the Rise. Here’s What You Can Do to Prevent It.
Even as fewer people use paper checks, there have been more reports of criminals stealing them from mailboxes and changing the dollar amount and name of the recipient, officials say.
By Ann Carrns
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/RCWZE2OK3BNCJNRVFOS74NYF7M.jpg)
