An increase in crimes targeting the US Postal Service has some experts warning Americans not to mail their checks.
The USPS warned last month that it had seen one increase in attacks on incidents of postmen and mail fraud, with 305 postmen stolen in the first half of the 2023 fiscal year, at a pace exceeding the 412 thefts of the previous year. At the same time, scammers are targeting mailboxes, either by stealing letters directly from residents’ homes or from USPS blue collection boxes, the Postal Service said.
The increase in crime targeting postal carriers and mailboxes increases the risk that checks sent in the mail can be stolen, as has been documented in incidents across the country. For example, a rash of thefts of blue collection boxes in Milwaukee led to the break-in last month of a criminal ring. According to a criminal complaint, the suspects used stolen “arrow keys,” or a USPS universal key that opens mail collection boxes, to steal mail, including more than 900 stolen checks.
Problems with theft have led the USPS to advise that Americans avoid depositing mail in blue collection boxes or leaving it in their own mailboxes for a carrier to pick up. Instead, the agency now recommends that customers go to their local post office to send mail securely.
Experts agree on the advice of only mailing checks to the post office.
“If you choose to mail a check, it’s always recommended that you use a secure email address, such as inside a post office, rather than an unsecured public mailbox,” Caitlin Driscoll of the Better Business Bureau. he told CBS Pittsburgh.
Why is mail theft on the rise?
In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, the US Postal Inspection Service said mail theft is on the rise as part of a broader national trend of “increasing crime patterns.”
The US Postal Inspection Service reported approximately 300,000 mail theft complaints in 2021, more than double the previous year’s total. In some cases, criminals attack post offices and steal deliveries. In others, scammers use arrow keys to access mailboxes to grab letters, checks, and other valuables.
A 2020 report from the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General found that the agency did not know how many arrow keys were in circulation or how many had been stolen, raising concerns about the security of collection boxes.
What does the USPS recommend?
The US Postal Service said people should avoid letting incoming or outgoing mail sit in their mailboxes for too long.
“You can significantly reduce the chance of being victimized simply by removing your mail from your mailbox each day,” the agency said in a statement.
The agency also recommends that people send mail to their local post office or workplace; alternatively, they can deliver their mail directly to a mail carrier. However, the USPS itself has not issued any specific guidance on mailing checks, the US Postal Inspection Service told CBS MoneyWatch.
“Our recommendations are provided as an additional precaution for those who feel more comfortable taking their mail to the post office,” the agency said.
What could happen if my check is stolen?
Crooks use a technique called “check laundering” to swindle you out of your money. This involves the use of chemicals that erase the writing on the check, such as the payee’s name and check amount. Once the payment is blank, they can fill in new information, including the amount.
In one case, a man sent a mail check for $42 to pay a phone bill and was shocked to be charged $7,000, paid to someone she had never heard of. In another case, nearly 60 people were arrested last year in Southern California accused of committing more than $5 million in check fraud against 750 people.
How many people still use checks?
It’s true that check use is declining, but Americans still wrote 3.4 billion checks in 2022. That’s down from 19 billion checks in 1990, but it still gives criminals plenty of opportunities for fraud.
