Uptick In Check Washing And Mail Fishing As Companies Ramp Up Cybersecurity

Phishing doesn’t happen only in your email in box. In fact, regular U.S.P.S. mail fishing has been going on for quite some time. Recently, however, the postal service has started taking action in order to combat it. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of what it is and how it happens. Some areas are even seeing an increase in this activity. So what is it and what can you do about it?

Usually, under cover of darkness, the criminals head for the streets of the U.S. in search of those easily identifiable blue postal boxes. They’re armed with some string and one of those sticky rattraps. You know the kind. They are so sticky that if you get that stuff on your bare hands, you have to scrub your hands raw with steel wool to get rid of the goo! To the mail thief, those two items found easily and inexpensively at your local hardware store are the key to cashing your checks.

In fact, one woman in New York City, recently had a $112 check intended for paying a bill, cashed for $3,500.

How did that happen? With a few chemicals, commonly found in your cabinet, ink can be wiped right off those checks. Do you have nail polish remover (acetone)? That’s one of them. Carpet cleaners? Carbon tetrachloride is in some of those and it can be used too. Criminals use these and or other chemicals to wipe the ink off the checks, change the amounts and cash them. This is known as check washing.

Law enforcement officials say this type of mail fishing is on the rise and according to the New York City Police Department, it’s doubled there within the past two years. But this isn’t limited just to Manhattan or any big city. It can, and does happen anywhere.

What may be contributing to this uptick? Well, one theory is that companies and others are ramping up their cybersecurity defenses and methods, which makes that type of crime riskier and more difficult. This is a good thing. Another is that it doesn’t take computer skills to fish a mailbox, yet it can still be lucrative when checks or gift cards are hooked. In fact that little homemade fishing line can bring up around 20 items at a time. There’s bound to be something valuable in that size of a group.

What can you do? Mail items that contain checks, gift cards, etc. just before they are due to be picked up. Don’t leave them overnight. That’s when most of this type of crime happens. You can also deposit those items into the slot at a post office. Those are generally much safer from this type of crime. You can also hand these items to your postal carrier, personally. They take them directly to the post office.

Check your account balances frequently if you send checks in the mail. If something is amiss, contact your financial institution to get it resolved.

If you are a victim of this type of crime, contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Services so they can look into it further. Crimes committed using the U.S. Postal Service are considered federal offenses. They don’t mess around. Also, if you see someone tampering with or fishing a blue mailbox, call 911 and report a crime in progress.

The blue mailboxes are in the process of being replaced and retrofitted to protect against this, but it’s going to take some time to get to all of them. In the meantime, use caution and follow the above tips to lower your risk of becoming a victim.

Stickley on Security
Published June 7, 2018