Written by Craig Johnson | April 23rd, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou need to know that there\u2019s a real threat to your identity if you mail payments by check.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you still mail checks? If so, you should know that crooks are trying to take you for all you have. Although money expert Clark Howard wants you to receive paper statements for particular bills, he doesn\u2019t want you to mail checks to pay for them. The reason is because of a scam called \u201ccheck washing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. Postal Service has a warning on its website about mail theft and how thieves are targeting mailboxes. \u201cAnd one of the principal things they\u2019re looking for \u2013 and this is something a lot of people will do at Christmastime \u2013 is they\u2019re looking for checks,\u201d Clark says. \u201cMaybe you\u2019re sending a check to a loved one at Christmas, or maybe you\u2019re paying a bill and you\u2019re enclosing a paper check.\u201d According to one report, Americans suffered an estimated $21 billion in losses to check fraud in 2023. More recently, the Charlotte News & Observer newspaper reported that criminals are intercepting people\u2019s property tax \u201cWashing\u201d a check involves \u201cchanging the payee names and often the dollar amounts on checks and fraudulently depositing them,\u201d according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. \u201cOccasionally, these checks are stolen from mailboxes Check-Washing: How To Avoid This Check Mailing Scam<\/strong> Use the Right Pen<\/strong> Use Secure Checks<\/strong> Written by Craig Johnson | April 23rd, 2025 \u201cYou need to know that there\u2019s a real threat to your identity if you mail payments by check.\u201d Do you still mail checks? If so, you should know that crooks are trying to take you for all you have. Although money expert Clark Howard wants you to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316,"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions\/316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waileaekahi.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
checks. In both of those cases and countless others, the crime involved \u201cwashing\u201d checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and washed in chemicals to remove the ink. Some scammers will even use copiers or scanners to print fake copies of a check.\u201d Clark says criminals are breaking into post boxes and, in some cases, even robbing postal workers so that they can get the keys to the boxes. Once they have the keys, \u201cThey can get the mail out of the box, open up mail that looks like it\u2019s a payment with a check,\u201d Clark says. \u201cThen they \u2018wash\u2019 that check, make themselves the payee, change the amount and steal money from you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of the prevalence of check washing and other check fraud, Clark wants you to be safe when paying your bills. Don\u2019t Put a Check in the Post Office\u2019s Blue Mailboxes \u201cThe Postal Service, in its own alert about this, says if you are mailing something with a check \u2014 a bill payment or anything like that \u2014 don\u2019t use the outside mailboxes,\u201d Clark says. \u201cGo inside the post office and drop it in their secure box.\u201d
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Instead of using ballpoint pens, many people advocate for the use of gel ink pens, which contain ink that thoroughly penetrates the paper, making it impossible to \u201cwash\u201d a check. While it won\u2019t hurt to use gel ink pens, which can be found on Amazon for about $5 for a pack, a report from TV station KSDK in St. Louis indicates that gel ink pens, once viewed as an adequate countermeasure to prevent \u201cwashing\u201d a check, no longer are a deterrent for the most sophisticated crooks. \u201cNo, gel pens can no longer make check fraud harder for criminals because criminals no longer need to erase ink to commit check fraud,\u201d the station reports in an article. Although many crooks are now scanning and reproducing checks, which they can easily modify, rather than writing over
them, it stands to reason that some bad actors may still be choosing to \u201cwash\u201d a check the old-fashioned way, and so using a gel ink pen still has its benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another option is to use certified checks, also known as \u201cofficial checks,\u201d which are typically used for big purchases and offer more security features.
With a certified check, the financial institution guarantees the funds and makes sure that only that amount can be cashed. Not all banks or credit unions have certified checks, so you\u2019ll need to check with your financial institution to make sure. A certified check will typically cost a little more than a regular check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pay Electronically if You Can<\/strong>
\u201cPay your bills electronically, above all,\u201d Clark says. \u201cThat\u2019s the ultimate lesson of this because the check-writing system is not secure and not safe.\u201d
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