North Reading Police Offer “Check Washing” Safety Tips Following Increase in Thefts

NORTH READING — Chief Mark Zimmerman and the North Reading Police Department would like to warn residents and community members about an increase in thefts and apparent “check washing” schemes.

Altering stolen checks to fraudulently cash them is known as “check washing,” and is a common scheme in which various chemical washes are used to remove ink from checks, creating a blank check that can be filled in.

Chief Zimmerman stated that over the past two years, the department has seen a significant increase in personal and business checks being stolen from various U.S. postal boxes throughout town. These checks are then washed by criminals and cashed at various locations throughout the State, often for much larger amounts than the original check was written for. North Reading Poice has received approximately 40 complaints related to these schemes from North Reading residents in the past two years.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service reports that more than $1 billion in counterfeit checks and money orders are recovered each year.  

The North Reading Police Department would like to share the following tips for check theft and check washing from the United States Postal Inspection Service:

• Use black gel pens when filling out checks. Black gel ink can be more difficult to wash off of a check.
• Do not mail checks via your residential mailbox, or any other insecure mailbox. It is recommended that any checks be mailed only in blue Postal Service mailboxes, or that they be delivered by hand inside the Post Office.
• Shred or burn canceled checks. Do not throw checks in the trash.
• Check your bank statements often. Some banks will only reimburse funds lost to fraud if the fraud is reported to the bank within 30 days.  
• Never send cash in the mail. 

Residents should be aware that numerous local check washing cases have included mail that was suspected to have been stolen from the blue postal Service mailboxes located throughout North Reading. The best way to reduce the chances of mail being stolen from a stand-alone mailbox is to hand deliver it inside the post office location.

Residents who believe they may have had mail stolen or checks fraudulently cashed are encouraged to contact the North Reading Police Department at 978-664-3131.

For more information on protecting yourself against check washing and other scams from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, click here. 

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