We’ve become so used to high-tech cybercrime that we may sometimes forget about the vulnerability of our mailboxes.
But an old-school, low-tech scam is surging and is more than enough reason to avoid or limit writing paper checks altogether. And the recent predicament faced by a California couple who reached out to me shows how challenging it can be to retrieve money after a check’s been altered.
According to a joint warning from the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service, check fraud is skyrocketing. Federal data shows that reports of check fraud nearly doubled from 350,000 in 2021 to 680,000 in 2022.
It’s gotten so bad that the agencies recommend considering e-checks, ACH automatic payments and other electronic or mobile payments.
In 2010, there were just over 2,200 high-volume mail theft attacks, and by 2023, that number had skyrocketed to over 49,000, a “2,000 percent explosion,” Frank Albergo, president of the Postal Police Officers Association, said last summer during testimony before a House subcommittee.
Banks should be held accountable because the stolen checks are being deposited remotely, which should be against the law.
Bamks should be held acccountable because the stolen checks are being deposited remotely, which should be against the law.
Thanks to radicals in labor, anyone that applies gets hired. This has led to an explosion in internal theft, which is extremely troubling. The public has much less tolerance for this than external theft; both drive volume away.
The Truth is correct…
The chief postal inspector has single-handedly destroyed public trust in the mail. He is an incompetent bafoon that has allowed postal inspectors to do nothing for 6 years, he’s allowed the OIG to take shot after shot at USPIS, and he allowed the postal service to ground the postal police. So now the postal police union is relentlessly attacking the Inspection Service every chance it gets. It’s a perfect storm of stupidity behind an inept chief postal Inspector, who doesn’t know what he’s doing and couldn’t manage a Taco Bell much less a law enforcement agency. Either get rid of the chief postal inspector, or get rid of the Inspection service – or both.
Cliff, you sound like loopy Frank Albergo, president of the Postal Police Officers Association. You need to get over the “grounding of postal police”, they weren’t fighting crime and have always been a security arm of the USPIS just with the name “Police” to give them more authority on postal property. Show their arrest stats for 10 years before they were “Grounded” and you see very little or no activity… Frank Albergos fight is only to get his Postal Police 20 year federal law enforcement retirement which currently they don’t qualify for because they don’t do enough law enforcement. Don’t take my word, do your own research and make up your own mind on this subject. Have a blessed day.