Check 'washing' scam using photo deposit
 

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Have now seen multiple instances of checks stolen in the mail (likely USPS staff) being deposited into a thief's account. How does this happen you ask?

Mobil deposit. The thieves do something my local bank manager calls 'washing' to change the payee on the check then they use photo deposit to get the $$. Further i keep hearing the name 'Green Dot Bank' coming up in these financial scams. Store bought refillable debit cards are a major tool in this scam as well.

The most recent case I saw was a tax refund check mobil deposited. The check amount matched the refund on the return however the cancelled check provided by IRS shows a different name/address on the 'payable to' line and 'for mobil deposit' written on the back. The big clue is the first few letters of the proper recipients name are shown on the check in the memo but of course do NOT match the payee name 'printed' on the check. This doesn't happen without mobil deposit facilitating it.

My question then is why do we allow this?

Check washing isn't new though, it was an issue 27 years ago when I was bank teller in college. It was something we were trained on.

This is one reason I check my mail daily.

Several years ago, I hadn't checked my mailbox for over a week. I had a locking box so I didn't worry too much. I have a camera system on my house and one of my cameras stopped working and when I checked on it, it had been pulled off the house.

The thief stole my mail which included a new debit card (but I did not know that at the time). A few weeks later, I started receiving bounced check notices in the mail. I called the bank and they had me read the numbers from my card. In the process, I noticed that my card had expired. The bank told me that the thief was using my new card. The items he purchased was very alarming to me: 50 prepaid cell phones, 30 background checks, bailed someone out of our local jail, and I can't remember the rest. The background checks was the most alarming because this guy is obviously building cases on other people he has stolen from.

Since I had multiple cameras on my house, I was able to provide the police with photos of this guy and they ultimately caught him.

Bottom line: I always check my mail - even now that I have replaced my box with a nearly armored box.