FBI Warns: Thieves Are Fishing Checks Out of Mailboxes — Here's How to Stop Them
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.
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).