SCAMS BULLETIN Host Jay White is a volunteer attorney who provides free legal services for low income seniors in San Mateo County, California.

April 18, 2020

CHECK WASHING SCAM

Check washing is back. That’s the scam in which criminals steal checks from victims’ mailboxes and change the name of the payee (the person receiving the money) to themselves. Check washing works because it’s easy to do and difficult to spot.

According to the National Check Fraud Center (NCFC), scammers use the technique to get away with millions of dollars every year. The scam works because many people have either forgotten or don’t even know it exists. That includes bank tellers who hand over cash to the crooks.

The crooks erase payee details using chemicals found in common household cleaning products. They then take great care to try to match the ink color and remaining handwriting when they insert their own name. In most cases, they also alter the amount for which the check is made out. They use a fake name, of course, and then march into a bank with a matching fake ID, like a phony driver’s license, and ask for the cash.

The first knowledge the victim usually has is when the person or organization to whom they sent the money notifies them that they haven’t been paid, or when they discover a check that was sent to them never arrived.

In some cases, banks have agreed to compensate victims by refunding the lost money, but this depends entirely on the bank’s policy.

Protective Tips

Are you still using checks to pay bills, or to receive payments from others via the postal service? If so, consider other more secure ways of paying your bills — such as via credit or debit card or direct payment/transfer from your bank. Likewise, others can pay you via electronic transfer or PayPal.

Use a gel pen to write the check. This ink is reportedly more difficult to remove than regular ballpoint ink.

Don’t place payments checks in an unlocked mailbox. Ideally, post them at a post office. You could place them in a USPS mailbox, but these are also potentially vulnerable to thieves. Best practice is to place them in the box just before the last collection of the day.

If you have no alternative to using your own mailbox, place the payment check in the box just before your mail person’s normal collection time. At the very least, don’t leave it in the box overnight, on Sundays, or holidays.

If you expect to receive check payments in the mail, ensure you have a lockable box that self-locks on closing after the deliverer has placed the items inside.

Check your bank statement regularly to view copies of your paid checks. Most banks will either return presented checks to customers (on request) or make images of them available online.

Finally, if you’re discarding a check, perhaps because you made a mistake, or you deposited an incoming one electronically via a scanner, shred it. Don’t just put it in the trash where crooks may find it.

ATTB: scambusters.org