![]() ![]() He said he doesn’t understand why it’s taken so long for the thieves to be caught. “The check handwriting and format did not match any of our customers previous check items, and the customer was issued a credit to her account.”īut the spokeswoman said she could not provide any information on the person who cashed it. “Upon investigation, we confirmed the customer signature listed on the disputed checks did not match the client’s signature on previous authorized checks or what we have on file,” the spokeswoman said. To combat the problem, the postal service modified the sidewalk boxes in New York in an effort to make them more secure, Harris said. mail system at a time when the postal service is under intensifying scrutiny over its ability to move and safeguard mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election. The thefts raise fresh questions about the security of the U.S. The criminals write a new name on the check and can change the value to whatever they want. Washing ink off checks requires little scientific know-how, experts say, and can be done with common household cleaning products. The thieves drop it into the box’s pulldown lid, reel it in and sift through their catches in a search for cash, checks or anything else of value. ![]() The “rod” generally consists of a string tied to a sticky rodent trap or bottle slathered in glue. Most of the bandits were found to be employing a tactic known as mailbox fishing, in which they use handmade tools to pluck envelopes out of the collection boxes. ![]() Postal Inspection Service, according to spokeswoman Donna Harris.Īn investigation soon determined that the thefts were taking place at street corner mailboxes in the Bronx. In late 2016, reports of mail theft began pouring into the New York division of the U.S. But old habits, like dropping a rent check or water bill payment in the mail, die hard, and the collection boxes remain an attractive target to enterprising thieves. Since the turn of this century, sidewalk mailboxes have seen decreasing traffic thanks to the rise of email and online banking. The available data suggests that thefts at USPS collection boxes - at least the ones that are reported - are relatively uncommon. President Donald Trump has claimed that the increased use of mail-in ballots will lead to fraud even though numerous studies and reports have found there’s no widespread evidence of voter fraud in the U.S. mail system at a time when the Postal Service is under intensifying scrutiny over its ability to move and safeguard mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election. “That’s right do not, stop, don’t do it, halt, blockade, cease, discontinue, freeze, terminate, placing any mail you don’t want stolen from the big blue mailbox in front of the United States Post Office located in Peachtree City,” the police department posted on its Facebook page. And the situation got so bad in Peachtree City, Georgia, that police warned residents to stop dropping their mail at the main collection box. Roughly $200,000 in checks were stolen from a collection box outside a New Orleans post office that same month. The Boston area was hit by a rash of thefts at USPS boxes in February. Checks have been intercepted, altered and cashed after they were placed in envelopes and dropped in at least two other nearby USPS collection boxes. Numerous Jersey City residents have had checks stolen in the past year, and the thefts are not confined to one particular mailbox. ![]()
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