Check Fraud and Mail Theft: How Check Washing Works and How to Protect Yourself

Check fraud reports rose sharply, but official sources reviewed do not substantiate the claim that check fraud increased 400% in 2023 or that thieves stole billions of dollars from mailboxes. FinCEN counted more than 680,000 check-fraud suspicious activity reports in 2022, while the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) reported a separate rise in high-volume mail-theft reports. Those figures measure reports and suspicious activity—not a census of proven crimes or confirmed losses. The practical response is to limit how long checks sit in the mail, monitor payments, and act quickly if a check goes missing or is altered.

What do the check-fraud and mail-theft numbers actually show?

The claim of a 400% increase in check fraud in 2023 is not substantiated by the official sources cited here. FinCEN reported more than 350,000 check-fraud Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in 2021, 23% more than in 2020, and more than 680,000 in 2022—nearly double the 2021 filings. A SAR is a financial institution’s report of suspected activity, not proof that a crime occurred or a count of unique victims. FinCEN’s 2023 alert explains the figures and the reporting context.

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FinCEN’s later analysis examined 15,417 BSA reports from 841 financial institutions for the six months following its February 2023 alert. Those reports involved more than $688 million in reported suspicious activity; that amount is not confirmed victim loss. Among the outcomes the analysis described, 44% involved altered checks deposited, 26% involved stolen checks used as templates for counterfeits, and 20% involved checks fraudulently signed and deposited. The categories do not account for every filing. See FinCEN’s analysis.

Mail-theft reports are another measure, not a check-fraud total. USPIS reported 20,574 reports of high-volume mail theft from receptacles in fiscal year 2019 and 49,146 in fiscal year 2023, a 139% increase. These are reports, not all underlying thefts or losses from stolen checks. Mail theft can occur at different points in the postal system; it is not limited to residential mailboxes. USPIS presents the figures in its 2024 strategy.

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USPIS also says it recovers more than $1 billion in counterfeit checks and money orders annually. That broader recovery figure covers both instruments and should not be read as a measure of confirmed losses from checks stolen from mailboxes. USPIS’s check-washing guidance describes the recovery statement.

What is check washing, and how do thieves use a stolen check?

Check washing starts with a real paper check that has been stolen. A criminal may use chemicals to remove ink, then change the payee and often the amount before depositing or cashing it. In other cases, a stolen check is copied or scanned and used as a template for a counterfeit. FinCEN also identified checks that were fraudulently signed and deposited.

Checks targeted in reported schemes include personal and business checks, tax-refund checks, and checks connected to government assistance. Stolen mail can also expose personal information that may be reused in other fraud. Theft may involve a mailbox or another mail receptacle, postal carriers, or theft inside postal facilities; not every case follows the same route. USPIS explains the basic methods in its check-washing overview, while FinCEN’s analysis describes reported fraud outcomes.

How can you reduce the risk of a mailed check being stolen or altered?

No single measure guarantees that a check will be safe. The aim is to reduce its exposure and spot unauthorized activity before it causes more trouble.

Protect incoming mail

• Retrieve delivered mail promptly instead of leaving it in a mailbox overnight.
• If you will be away, ask the post office to hold your mail.
• Use USPS Informed Delivery to keep track of expected mail, and contact the sender if an important check does not arrive.

Make outgoing checks harder to intercept or alter

• Deposit outgoing mail before the last collection of the day or take it to a post office rather than leaving it in an exposed box.
• Consider a security envelope to conceal the contents.
• Use indelible black ink. Fill in the payee and amount lines without leaving large blank spaces that could be used to change the check.
• Avoid putting unnecessary personal details on a check, and follow up with the payee to confirm it arrived.

Monitor payments and consider alternatives

• Review your bank account activity and available paid-check images for unfamiliar or altered transactions.
• Consider electronic bill pay, ACH, or other electronic or mobile payment options when your bank and payee support them.
• Compare options based on whether the bank and payee support them, account requirements or fees, available alerts and check images, and how quickly you can notice a missing or unauthorized payment. The cited official guidance recommends considering electronic alternatives but does not rank providers or quantify comparative fraud risk.

These steps are recommended by USPIS and the American Bankers Association (ABA) as ways to reduce exposure or improve detection, not as guarantees against fraud.

What should you do if a check you sent never arrives or appears altered?

1. Contact your bank promptly. Explain that the check may be missing or fraudulent and ask what action is available on the account. Request a copy of any fraudulent or altered check so you can document what happened.
2. Contact the intended payee. Confirm whether the check arrived or was deposited, and discuss another payment method if needed.
3. Report suspected mail theft to USPIS. Use the USPIS reporting page or call 1-877-876-2455. The service says to call 911 if a crime is in progress.
4. Report the suspected fraud to local police. Keep records of your bank contact, check image, and reports.
5. Consider the credit-bureau step in USPIS check-washing guidance. Review the instructions in USPIS’s guidance for that step.

USPIS and ABA both recommend contacting the bank and reporting suspected fraud; USPIS provides current reporting options on its reporting page.

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