It wasn't really that long ago that most of us paid all of our bills with a check put in the mail. I still pay a few of my bills this way. Today a vast majority of us pay our bills on line. No more writing checks and putting them in the mail. Glen Kaplinski recently wrote a check for $117 to pay his landscaper the old fashioned way. He put the check in the mail. A few weeks later he heard from his landscaper. Who was still waiting to be paid. Then when he checked with Chase Bank in Livingston he saw his checking account balance was $7,000 less than it should have been. His check has stolen and altered in several places. Including the amount the check was written for. A "7" was written in before the "117." Which made the amount of the check $7,117.00. The name on the check was changed to Ahbree Williams. There doesn't seem to be anyone with that name in New Jersey. Even worse someone who works for a bank actually cashed it! Kaplinski reported the fraud to Chase Bank and has been getting the run around according to a story on NJ.COM. The U.S. Postal Service says mail fraud and stolen mail complaints are up 29 percent since last year. If you are mailing a check the U.S. Postal Service now recommends dropping it off at your post office in person. It's not a guarantee the check won't be stolen but it will reduce the chance that it will happen. In the meantime, I hope every bank makes it's employees aware of the spike in checks stolen from the mail.
Source: NJ.COM
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