A Florida neighborhood has lost at least $658,000 to mail thieves — and the method they used is spreading across the country

“How can this happen to somebody in 10 days time three different batches of check stolen you know?” she asked incredulously.

Other residents who’ve spoken to the news outlet report losing more than $358,000.

“You can’t even trust the postal system anymore ‘cause it’s not just stealing the mail out of the box,” resident Brian Nemcosky said (2). “It’s multiple people, so it has to be happening higher up,

In many of these cases, the amount on the check stays the same, but the name is changed and money gets deposited into someone else’s account.

For Nemcosky, the first sign something was off was a missing payment alert from his credit card company. Although he got his money back, it took three months to settle the case, and now he’s lost faith in USPS’s security standards.

Fox-13 Tampa (3) reports hundreds of people have been impacted by this “check washing” scam.

In response to the ongoing mail issues in Lakewood Ranch, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and USPS declined to comment (3) due to an active investigation.

How your mail turns into a money grab

This is far from an isolated incident. A recent report from the FBI and United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) (4) shows cases of check fraud nearly doubled between 2021 and 2023 nationwide.

In strategies like “check washing,” the FBI (5) says criminals use special chemicals to change the payee and amount on the check for their nefarious purposes.

There’s also a technique known as “check cooking” that involves using digital tools and advanced printing equipment to distort the images on a stolen check. The FBI says this allows criminals to generate hundreds of fraudulent checks (often with tiny values to avoid detection) from just one initial image.

But how do the criminals get these checks in the first place? One way is known as “fishing,” in which criminals use a net or sticky material to pull envelopes out of collection boxes.

One Lakewood Ranch victim, Maureen Gallagher, told ABC7 Sarasota (2) how a local police officer explained this type of theft. At night, a mail thief conceals a net in the area where people drop off their mail and then removes the net (full of mail) the following morning before the post office opens.

Mail thieves also use master keys (also called arrow keys) to access mail. These keys let postal workers open multiple blue collection boxes (6) and cluster mailboxes along their route. In the wrong hands, a single stolen key can unlock an entire neighborhood’s mail, making them a valuable target for large-scale mail theft.

At least 3,437 arrow keys were stolen in 2024, up 150% from 2020. It was an all-time high, per the Postal Police Officers Association (7). Disturbingly, USPS only recovered 183 of them.

As cases from Lakewood Ranch highlight, the first sign that something is wrong usually comes in the form of an alert on a check that wasn’t cashed as intended. If victims don’t catch this in time, they may notice other warning signs, such as unexpected bank withdrawals or deposited payments under a strange name.

Unfortunately, since checks often process quickly, there’s a narrow window to catch fraud before the money is gone. But there are some ways you can prevent yourself from a similar postal catastrophe.

A checklist for check fraud prevention

The top tip many authorities give to avoid check fraud is to simply switch from physical checks to electronic payments if you can. While that’s sound advice, it may not always be possible (or desirable).

So, what do you do when you can’t get around mailing (or receiving) a check?

The FBI has a few other safety suggestions on this issue, including using USPS’s online “Informed Delivery” service (8). You can sign up for a free account and monitor where your mail is at every step of its journey from a mobile or desktop device.

Avoid mail thieves using a net to “fish” for your mail overnight by getting in the habit of sending mail early in the day rather than leaving it overnight. Better yet, drive to your local post office when you need to send more sensitive letters.