Wells Fargo refuses to refund $28K tax payment after mail thieves steal, alter, cash Bay Area homeowners' check. Here's the big bank's reasoning

"Clearly, the check had been altered, and cashed by somebody else," Paul told ABC7's 7 On Your Side (1).

Criminals had stolen the check from the mail, used chemicals to wipe the payee line, written in a new name, and deposited it at a U.S. Bank ATM in Minnesota. The amount: nearly $28,000. The Glasers still owed the county, and with penalties, their total damage came to roughly $60,000.

They went to Wells Fargo expecting a straightforward refund. Within 30 days, they got an automated denial. The reason? They hadn't reported the fraud within 30 days of receiving their bank statement (1).

San Jose homeowner Kathy Pham had a nearly identical experience — a $2,400 property tax check stolen from the mail, altered and cashed by someone else, then denied by the same bank with the same explanation.

The 30-day rule most people have never heard of

Here's what tripped both families up. Under the Uniform Commercial Code — the framework governing commercial transactions in every state — customers must review bank statements promptly and report unauthorized transactions, typically within 30 to 60 days. Wells Fargo's 42-page deposit account agreement sets that window at 30 days.

There was no way to spot the fraud from the statement alone. "It only shows the date and the amount," Jody Glaser said. "It doesn't show who you wrote the check to. It doesn't say who cashed the check. It just says 'check.'"

The only way to catch it was to download the actual check image — something most people wouldn't think to do for every cleared transaction. Wells Fargo's position is that customers should do exactly that. The bank updated its account agreement last November to make that expectation explicit, though the clause wasn't in place when these families filed their claims.

Under the UCC, an altered check is not "properly payable," and liability generally falls on the bank that accepted the fraudulent check from the thief (2). But if the customer doesn't report the problem within that statement window, banks can shift the loss back onto them — which is precisely what Wells Fargo did here.

It's not a fluke — and it's not the first time

This isn't an isolated incident, and it's not the first time Wells Fargo has been at the center of a disputed fraud claim. Moneywise previously reported on a 90-year-old man who lost $814,000 in life savings to a scam and was similarly denied by Wells Fargo.

Mail theft-related check fraud has become one of the fastest-growing financial crimes in the country. In 2024, USPS recorded over 52,000 high-volume mail theft attacks — up 156% since 2019 (3). Check fraud still accounts for half of all fraud-related suspicious activity reports filed by banks, according to FinCEN data analyzed by the Federal Reserve — with total fraud suspicious activity reports from financial institutions up 110% between 2020 and 2024 (4). The FBI issued a public service announcement in January 2025, warning that the problem continues to accelerate (5). In 2024, Postal Inspectors reported 4,754 arrests and 4,228 convictions related to mail theft, carrier robberies and mail fraud (6).

The very mailbox where the Glasers dropped their check was later sealed off and taken out of service. A sign on it now reads: "Please drop mail inside the post office." A USPS Office of Inspector General audit found the agency lacks accountability for its universal "arrow keys" — the master keys that open blue collection boxes — which are frequently targeted in carrier robberies and used to commit mail theft (7).

One family got refunded. The other didn't.

After ABC7's 7 On Your Side intervened, Wells Fargo refunded Pham's $2,400. The bank did not explain why it approved her appeal but continued to deny the Glasers' $28,000 claim, citing privacy rules.

In a statement, Wells Fargo said it "empathize[s] with our customer's situation" and that its "priority is to support our customers and raise awareness for them to avoid, detect, and promptly report incidents."