With all the ways scammers try to get at us and our money—email, text messages, QR codes, even RFID skimming—it’s easy to forget that some criminals are still doing things the old-fashioned way.
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As low-tech as stealing from mailboxes is, the Kent County Sheriff’s Office says these kinds of thefts are increasing across West Michigan.
In a recent Facebook post, the Kent County Sheriff’s Office warned that checks are being stolen from residential mailboxes, then altered and cashed fraudulently.
How the scam works is simple: someone puts a paper check in their mailbox to pay a bill. Before it’s picked up, suspects steal the outgoing mail. They pull the check and alter it by changing the payee and the amount. Theives then try to cash it as if nothing happened…