Mail Fraud - Stolen Checks!
- Thread starter TPD
- Start date
SandieGarry
Active Member
Wow, sorry for your issues. Good luck
3CATSAILOR
Well-Known Member
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.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.
Detectives Investigating Mail Fraud In Calvert County - The BayNet
PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. – The Calvert County Sheriff’s Office has received several reports of checks being stolen and altered after they have been placed in the mail. The Criminal Investigations Bureau (CIB) is investigating these crimes in conjunction with the United States Postal Inspection...thebaynet.com
TPD
the poor dad
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.
Dozens arrested in mail fraud operation involving nearly $5 million in losses
56 people across Southern California were arrested for their alleged involvement in a long-running mail-and-check fraud scheme that officials say bilked more than 700 victims out of nearly $5 million.
Sneakers
Just sneakin' around....
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?
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.
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.
MANY banks have cashed them....apparently.
This is exactly what just happened to us...even that it was a Chase bank that accepted the bogus checks.
Explains why the postal service seems to be in on it.
Sneakers
Just sneakin' around....
And why no one can seem to find the perps right under their noses.
kwillia
n/a
The checks are being chemically washed to remove the to name and amount. The cleaned checks are being sold on the dark web. The cashed checks are not being cashed by the actual original thieves.