Chicago couple loses nearly $11K in check-washing scheme allegedly tied to a local post office. Here’s what happened

With fraud connected the emergence crossed the country, an aged signifier of theft has popped up successful a Chicago suburb, and 1 nonmigratory is sounding the alarm.

As Therese Scarlati shared with CBS News (1), she and her hubby precocious became victims of a check-washing scam — a signifier of fraud wherever criminals usage chemicals similar benzene oregon bleach to erase the accusation connected a cheque successful bid to regenerate it with a caller payee and dollar amount, stealing wealth from the cheque owner’s slope relationship (2).

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In the lawsuit of the Scarlatis, 2 checks that they mailed connected the aforesaid time — $165 for their security institution and $64 for their h2o measure — turned into $5,200 for a snowfall plow rental and $5,700 for retention fees, respectively (3).

Here’s what you request to cognize astir this signifier of fraud, including tips connected however to support yourself.

The Scarlatis reportedly recovered retired done their mailman that a section station bureau had erstwhile reports of akin issues. Therese besides posted astir the scam connected Facebook, and dozens of different residents of Lombard, Illinois commented that they experienced the aforesaid problem.

On the hunt for answers, Scarlati went to the Lombard station bureau successful question and asked to spot the backmost room. "There was nary cameras successful the backmost country to ticker however they are handling successful the back," she told CBS News.

As of now, there’s nary confirmation that the station bureau had thing to bash with the scam that stole astir $11,000 from the Scarlatis.

Thieves often get their hands connected checks by stealing them from personal, concern and certified USPS mailboxes (4). And portion these criminals often bargain checks to perpetrate fraud, the idiosyncratic accusation recovered connected stolen checks tin besides beryllium utilized to instrumentality retired loans, arsenic good arsenic unfastened slope accounts and lines of recognition successful the victim’s name.

Though checks are nary longer the astir fashionable outgo method, the 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey recovered that this method of outgo is astir often targeted for fraud (5).

Checks are inactive a communal signifier of outgo for business-to-business transactions, and the AFP survey recovered that 63% of respondents said their companies were victims of cheque fraud successful 2024. In 2021, much than 350,000 Suspicious Activity Reports for imaginable cheque fraud were filed by fiscal institutions, a 23% summation from 2020, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (6).