Thieves steal outgoing checks from home mailboxes, wash off the ink, and rewrite the payee and amount. If you still pay by check, move every bill you can to electronic payment. Drop the checks you must mail in the slot inside the post office instead of leaving them under a raised flag.
That raised flag tells any thief driving by that outgoing mail is waiting. Financial institutions reported more than $688 million in transactions tied to suspected mail-theft check fraud in roughly six months of 2023, according to the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Washing works on ordinary ballpoint ink, which acetone or bleach dissolves. Thieves tape over the signature line first, so the check comes out blank except for your real signature, ready to rewrite or sell.
A $150 rent check can clear as $2,400 made out to a stranger, and you won’t see it until the money leaves your account.
Start by paying electronically wherever you can, through your bank’s bill pay or the payee’s own website. When a payee can’t take an electronic payment, your bank mails the check itself, so it never sits in your mailbox. For any check you still write:
- Fill it out in black gel ink, which soaks into the paper and resists washing better than ballpoint.
- Drop it in the letter slot inside the post office, or hand it straight to your carrier.
- Turn on a bank alert for any withdrawal over a few hundred dollars, and open the image of each cleared check to confirm the payee and amount.
If a check ever clears for the wrong amount or to someone you never paid, call your bank that day. Then report the theft to the Postal Inspection Service at uspis.gov/report or 877-876-2455. The federal regulator of national banks says you usually get no more than 30 days after the statement date to report an altered check, and the exact limit varies by bank and state. Find yours in your account agreement now, before you need it.
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