Rise In 'Check Washing' Cases Prompts Warning From Westport Police

WESTPORT, CT — Westport police detectives are seeing a rise in "check washing" cases, which has prompted the department to issue a warning to residents about where they mail their payments.

"Check washing is the process of erasing the details from an already completed check to allow them to be rewritten," Westport police wrote in a Facebook post. "In most instances, checks that have been put in mailboxes and are awaiting pickup by a postal employee are stolen. Once stolen, the suspect(s) alter the check by changing the payee as well as the amount and then cash or deposit it at a bank."

Police said that the checks that end up washed have been "stolen from both residential and United States Postal Service mailboxes within Westport."

How many check washing cases Westport police have investigated in recent months was not disclosed, but to thwart such thefts, the department recommends that our residents/visitors avoid placing checks they have written directly in free-standing mailboxes.

"Instead, it would likely be safer to either complete the transaction electronically, and if that is not possible, mail the check from inside the post office" police said. "Although inconvenient, adhering to these suggestions should reduce the occurrences of this type of crime in town."