It’s an average day spent relaxing at home until your bank calls to say someone you’ve never heard of has cashed a $13,000 check against your account.
That’s what happened to Galveston resident Joe Blackshear, just one of the many victims of the more than $1 million mail theft and check fraud enterprise involving Galveston’s Bob Lyons Post Office and the drop boxes it services.
It was altered through a chemical process called washing and negotiated for $13,000, he said.
Over the past few weeks, The Daily News has interviewed six people with stories similar to Blackshear’s. They were stung for various amounts totaling $141,000. They form a small sample of a much larger group of victims, including at least 140 cases totaling more than $1 million reported to the Galveston Police Department.
