DO NOT Send Checks in Mail Anymore in New York State

Stop sending checks in the mail if you can because there has been a pretty big problem happening.

There is a major problem with sending checks in the mail right now and it isn't letting up. Have you ever had a check that you sent in the mail and the person who was to receive it says that they never got it?

Organized crime is a major problem when it comes to stealing checks. Officials say that typically, there is more than one person involved with stealing the checks. If you can, use digital platforms to transfer money so that you can see transactions and there is a digital footprint.

How are criminals stealing checks?

The most common way that people steal checks is called 'check washing'. Check washing is when someone goes into your mailbox and finds a check, steals it, and then changes the name and the dollar amount. In some cases, criminals will even have set up a fake account to cash the check.

There is another method called 'Melted Ink':

The perpetrators used technology that melted ink in the “to” field of the checks so they could write in fake names. FischTank instructed all its clients to change their paper format because it was dealing with a check fraud issue", according to WIVB.

How many checks have been stolen?

Banks reported over 680,000 check fraud situations to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network last year. That's almost double from 2 years ago. Millions and millions of dollars have been taken. Not in all cases is the money able to be recovered.

Who is even still writing checks?

Believe it or not, a lot of checks are written. In fact, 3.4 billion checks were written in 2022. That is nothing compared to 1990 though, before the digital age.

In 1990, 19 billion checks were used. Insane.