Think cheques went extinct with the dinosaurs? Tell that to the fraudsters who just stole $688 million from your mailbox.

Last year, a Chicago woman mailed her $1,200 rent cheque. Three weeks later, her account showed a withdrawal of $12,000 to someone she'd never heard of. The criminals had fished her cheque from a USPS blue box, "washed" it with nail polish remover, and rewrote it.

While we're justifiably worried about hackers and crypto scams, criminals are getting rich the old-fashioned way - stealing paper from your mailbox. And business is booming.

How They're Doing It?

📝 Forgery & Alteration - Crooks "wash" real cheques with chemicals. A $150 cheque becomes $15,000 in minutes, all they need is acetone, a cotton swab, and your grandmother's birthday money.

✒️ Disappearing Ink - Victims are tricked into signing with special pens, allowing fraudsters to alter cheque details later. That pen the "delivery guy" handed you? It might cost you thousands.

📬 Mail Theft - Stolen cheques from residential mailboxes or postal drop-offs are still a thriving black-market trade. That's 820 mailboxes raided every single day, while you're sleeping, criminals are hunting for your cheques.

💻 Counterfeit Cheque - Desktop publishing makes it easy to print near-perfect fakes that fool unsuspecting victims. Your blank cheque from the grocery store? It's worth $50-$175 to a fraudster on the dark web.

👥 Overpayment Scams - "Oops, I sent $3,000 instead of $300! Just wire back the difference." Two weeks later, their cheque bounces, but your wire transfer is gone forever. The FBI calls this the "boomerang scam" because the money never comes back.

🏦 Business Compromise - Fraudsters intercept legitimate cheques, replace details, and drain corporate accounts before anyone notices the switch.

The Numbers Are Staggering - In 2023, FinCEN reported over $688 million in mail theft-related cheque fraud, while financial institutions reported over $1.3 billion in total cheque fraud losses. Mail theft complaints exploded from fewer than 60,000 in 2018 to more than 250,000 in 2023 - a 317% increase in just five years; and a plot twist - this is happening despite declining cheque usage^[ref].

💡 Criminals are listing over 9,000 stolen cheques each month on dark web channels and encrypted messaging platforms. The underground economy for your cheques is bigger than you think.

🚨 YOUR MOVE

Protect yourself starting today - switch roadside mailbox drops to indoor post office visits, hand cheques directly to postal workers. Set up account alerts (takes 3 minutes) and buy gel pens, the fraudster's kryptonite that can't be chemically washed. Never leave outgoing cheques in your home mailbox with the flag up; it's a neon sign for thieves. Review last month's bank statements for suspicious activity and be deeply skeptical of cheques from unknown sources, especially "overpayments."

For businesses, the stakes are higher - reconcile accounts daily and limit cheque use to exceptions only. Store chequebooks in locked cabinets, not desk drawers. Adopt Positive Pay or Payee Positive Pay - a bank service that matches presented cheques against your issued list - and Google your bank's name plus "Positive Pay" to get started this week. For extra protection, issue cheques with enhanced security features like watermarks, microprinting, and heat-sensitive ink.