Mail Fraud - Stolen Checks!

3CATSAILOR

Well-Known Member
Last month, I had 5 checks stolen out of the mail system, more than likely at the Capitol Heights mail processing facility. One of those checks was altered and attempted to cash for more than $14,000! Luckily my bank caught it and called me before clearing it. The other 4 checks never showed up to the vendors I was paying, nor were they tried to cash by anyone else. Unfortunately it has been a lot of headaches for me, closing my checking account, opening a new one, and issuing new checks and begging the vendors not to add late charges. One of the stolen checks was to SOMD Online for my ads - luckily Vrai didn’t charge me interest or put me on the naughty list. I’m still fighting with QuikBooks to set up my new account for my employees direct deposit of paychecks.

The manager at my bank told me he had 5 other businesses In this situation the same week as me. I was telling a fellow business owner about my situation and 3 days later he had the same thing happen - someone attempted to cash one of his checks for more than $9,000. My daughter did a notary last week for another of our local businesses with the same issue - $7,000 check stolen out of the mail and tried to cash.

I‘ve called USPS and filed a report but doubt anything will happen. I will try to call SMC Sherriffs office this week to See if there is anything they can do. I think this is all part of the bigger plan to foster more distrust in the postal service and force us into all digital banking so the government can more easily track ALL of our financial transactions.

USPS and FBI are investigating it. Thus far they are identifying it as organized crime activity. Bad news is that it may be organized from outside of the Country. I don't like using electronic transfer. This is because of the potential of even larger sums stolen from the account.
 
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TPD

the poor dad
USPS and FBI are investigating it. Thus far they are identifying it as organized crime activity. Bad news is that it may be organized from outside of the Country. I don't like using electronic transfer. This is because of the potential of even larger sums stolen from the account.
Read an article on Fox today stating that numerous people had been caught in the LA region for this same thing. We need them to be shut down on the east coast as well.

 

Sneakers

Just sneakin' around....
How does this keep happening, what banks are cashing these checks
I know if I cash even a very low value check at the Credit Onion, they stare at the check and go over it with a fine toothed comb before accepting it.

Maybe cashing it via a phone/remote banking is under less scrutiny?
 

Kyle

Beloved Misanthrope
PREMO Member
I'm tellin ya.

Death Penalty for Multiple Felonies is the way to go.
 
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Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
How does this keep happening, what banks are cashing these checks
Good question. I just spent/wasted the morning at the bank, dealing with closing the account, filing the fraud paperwork, new accounts...all that crap.

The method of the fraud isn't entirely clear. The checks are stolen from within the postal system; we always post ours at our actual post office. The 30K check that was cashed: The payee name and the payee address on the original check were changed, from a business entity in York Pa to some personal scumbag in New York. Check was endorsed by that scumbag on the back. How it was presented and cashed remains the mystery part. Our company checks have shiny security badges, watermarks etc, none of which show up on the scans that we can see in our online account views.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
what bank accepted this ? sounds fishy
Just went back several months and discovered another stolen and modified check that was successfully cashed...for $10K. We've also tentatively identified more than a dozen checks that have most likely been stolen but have not been successfully cashed yet.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Had 3 business checks as fraud past week alone. In my case, someone completely fabricated fake checks using a scan of my signature and the correct routing/account numbers. Checks were similar but slightly different. Then they were deposited into a chase account using their image to deposit system. Seems simple to prosecute since deposited into the perps account but i dont think law enforcement puts too high a priority on it. In each case i was able to get my bank (PNC) to reverse since caught early. But talking to alot of friends with local businesses and finding the same things happening to them. Getting to the point where banks are setting up online systems for businesses to pre authorize valid checks and automatically deny others. Low lifes never cease to amaze me. They are not being prosecuted so there is no deterrent.
This is exactly what just happened to us...even that it was a Chase bank that accepted the bogus checks.
 
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GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
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All of our tri-county local mail goes to the hub in Upper Marlboro. I’ve heard the hub is the suspected common denominator. Just rumor though it makes sense. The banks are accepting these modified checks because they present as legit and offer no reason for rejection.
 
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