PSA For Sending Checks in the Mail

We are issuing this PSA to our members not only because of the elevated risk, but also because our members have encountered these crimes firsthand. Between 2021 and 2022, the US Postal Service reported that mail theft almost doubled. We are advising our members to never leave checks in your mailbox with the flag up. If you must mail a check, drive it to the post office and put it in the outgoing mail inside the building. Do not use the outdoor blue mailboxes, as those have seen an uptick in vandalism, as well.

Criminals are taking sophisticated steps to wash checks—stealing them from the mail and changing the payee’s name and payment amount—and depositing them into accounts or attempting to cash them.

Some criminals are going further and using the information found on a check to gather sensitive personal data on a potential victim. There have been reports of criminals committing identity theft using personal data obtained from a check, or even opening new lines of credit or businesses with that data as well. This allows fraudsters to create new checks using old account data.

If you’re writing checks to a business that offers a different method of payment—via a debit or credit card, an ACH transaction, or a service like PayPal or Zelle—you should almost certainly use one of these instead. You generally have greater fraud protection and visibility into the transaction recipient. Some businesses also work with e-checks, which eliminates the need to drop a paper check in the mail.

At Enbright, we diligently look for signs of altered checks and fraud and through mobile check deposit services and the teller line, especially for large check deposits. Our tellers are trained to look at each aspect of a written check to validate the contents of a deposit.

As always, if you notice anything suspicious about your accounts or if your checks have been stolen, notify Enbright to put a hold on your accounts.