Area police noticing a number of checks being stolen from mailboxes

By EVAN SOBOL, ERIN EDWARDS, MARCY JONES, ROB POLANSKY

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    CONNECTICUT (WFSB) — Police across the state are investigating cases of mail fraud.

Several towns reported checks stolen from post office boxes, and the name and amount of money on the checks were changed.

“Unfortunately, it’s sad that here we now have to worry about checks that we’re writing to pay bills,” said Lisa Dadio, law enforcement expert, University of New Haven.

Simsbury, Canton, Avon, West Hartford, and Glastonbury police have all reported cases.

“Criminals will steal checks from these mailboxes and alter the payee and amount in order to steal money from victims’ bank accounts,” Glastonbury police said.

They called it “check washing.”

“They are, theoretically, washing the check using some type of chemical process to remove some of the information and alter it,” Dadio explained.

“Residents are urged not to use public mailboxes to mail items of monetary value or for mail containing sensitive information,” Glastonbury police noted.

Dadio explained that the suspects make the check look legitimate with a new signature and amount.

“For example, they’d make it payable to ‘Lisa Dadio’ and instead of $250, they’re writing $1,250,” Dadio said.

Melanie Glennon and her wife, Deb, said it happened to them. They live in Glastonbury.

“We both put checks in the outdoor mailbox and then she got a call from her bank that someone took one of her checks,” Glennon said.

Glennon said they took a $14 check and turned it into $1,400. Deb’s bank notified immediately her.

“We were talking about Deb’s experience and I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Let me check my bank’, and then I realized it happened to both of us,” stated Glennon.

Glennon’s check was changed to $1,600.

“It was supposed to go to a contractor for my house and they wrote their name over it, and they cashed it,” Glennon continued.

The couple eventually got their money back, but they said it was a process.

“I had to get a notary to prove that it wasn’t me. I’ve got to go through all this extra work and hassle to get $1,600 back into my account,” Glennon said,

“It really puts the consumer and the victim of these crimes in a significant, negative situation with their bank and the ability to pay other bills,” Dadio said.

“[The Glastonbury Police Department] is working with the U.S. postal inspectors to investigate these thefts,” police added.

Victims should contact their bank and police from the town or city where the check was mailed.

Police said if people need to mail items with money or valuable information, they should deliver them over the counter at the post office.

It’s unclear if the cases are related to one another, and no arrests have been made.

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