Illinoisans Need to Stop Sending Checks in the Mail

Check fraud has become a major problem across the US due to a rapid rise in organized crime. It is time to stop mailing checks altogether.

It may seem that a warning telling people to, "stop sending checks through the mail", isn't all that serious or important as nobody writes checks anymore. Outside of some old-timers who still pay their monthly bills that way,

just how many people are still mailing checks?

Americans wrote roughly 3.4 billion checks in 2022, according to the Federal Reserve.

It appears as if there's still a need for this warning.

Check Fraud Warning

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The rise in check fraud is being partly blamed on the rise of organized crime since the COVID-19 pandemic when government relief checks became an attractive target. They are high-tech criminal operations, infiltrating post office distribution centers, setting up fake businesses, or creating fake IDs, to deposit your checks.

The Most Common Types of Check Fraud

The most common way criminals steal checks is called 'check washing'.

Check washing is when someone takes a check from your mailbox and changes the name and the dollar amount. In some cases, criminals have set up fake accounts to cash the check, according to wivb.com.

Another common type of check fraud is 'ink melting'.

Ink melting is when the person who took your check uses a new form of technology that melts ink in the “to” field of the checks so they can write in a fake name.

With close to 700,000 cases of check fraud reported by banks last year, I damn sure don't want to be one of them. I can only imagine how long it takes to recover your money.

STOP SENDING CHECKS THROUGH THE MAIL