Watch Out For 'Check Washing,' West Hartford PD

WEST HARTFORD, CT — Washing your hands, hair and face are regular, every day tasks that should always be lathered, rinsed and repeated.

Washing your checks? Not such a good thing.

Thursday, the West Hartford Police Department sent out a scam alert regarding so-called "check-washing."

Check washing is a tactic scammers do that involves stealing checks, often from mailboxes, then using chemicals to remove any ink, then re-writing the checks to higher amounts and cashing them in.

"Check washing scams have been around for decades and involve changing the payee names and often the dollar amounts on checks and fraudulently depositing them," wrote the WHPD via Facebook.

"Usually these checks are stolen from mailboxes and washed in chemicals to remove the ink. Some scammers will even use copiers or scanners to print fake copies of a check."

As a result, the WHPD is offering up some tips to make sure bank accounts aren't cleaned out by check washing thieves.

They include:

• Drop off mail before final pickups. The best time to put outgoing mail into the U.S. Postal Service’s blue collection boxes is before the last pickup of the day. Another option is dropping outgoing mail off directly at a post office.

• Retrieve mail frequently and promptly. Never leave mail in a mailbox overnight.

• When writing and sending a check, monitor bank account to see when funds are withdrawn.

• When writing a check, use a gel pen. According to police, experts say gel pens with black ink provide the best protection against check washing, because gel ink resists chemical stripping.
It also contains pigments that permeate the fibers of the check itself, police said.

• Hold mail a local post office, especially if going on vacation.

• Use online or mobile banking.

• Avoid mailing from home. Don’t put bills, particularly those paid by check, in a residential mailbox. The red flag sticking up from a mailbox “is like an invitation to a thief,” police said.

Those who think they've had a check washed, should call police and notify the U.S. Postal Inspection Service United States Postal Inspection Service (uspis.gov).

For the West Hartford Police Department's Facebook page, click on this link.