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# FBI Warns: Thieves Are Fishing Checks Out of Mailboxes — Here's How to Stop Them
- URL: https://savvysilvertech.com/fbi-mail-theft-check-fraud-washing-seniors-april-2026/
- Published: 2026-04-23T15:23:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T15:23:29.000Z
- Description: Criminals are stealing paid bills from blue USPS boxes, "washing" the ink off your checks, and rewriting them for thousands of dollars. Seniors are the top target.
- Author: Chris Irwin
- Tags: Security Alert, Online Safety

If you still pay bills by dropping a check in the mail, the FBI has a new warning you need to hear. Organized crews are breaking into the big blue USPS mailboxes using stolen "arrow keys" — master keys that open every box in a zip code — and pulling out the envelopes inside. Once they have your check, they "wash" it with chemicals to erase your handwriting, then rewrite it to themselves for a much larger amount.

Suspicious check-fraud reports filed by banks have **nearly doubled** in the last two years, and because seniors are the group most likely to still use paper checks, we are the group losing the most money.

### Why this matters to you

You don't have to do anything "wrong" to be a victim. Simply dropping your electric bill in the corner mailbox on Sunday night — where it sits until Monday morning pickup — is enough. Thieves watch for unattended mail and strike fast.

### What to do

- **Drop checks inside the post office** — not in outdoor blue boxes, and never in your home mailbox with the flag up.
- **Pick up your mail the same day it arrives.** Don't let it sit overnight.
- **Sign up for free Informed Delivery at USPS.com** — the Post Office will email you a daily photo of what's coming so you'll notice if something never shows up.
- **Going out of town?** Place a free Hold Mail request at USPS.com.
- **Use a pen with permanent black gel ink** (not ballpoint) — it's much harder to "wash" off.
- Better yet, **pay bills online or by phone through your bank** whenever you can — no paper, no mailbox, no risk.

If a check you wrote was cashed for the wrong amount or by the wrong person, call your bank the same day and report it at **ic3.gov** (the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center).