What to Know
- Thieves "fish" mail from public mailboxes, looking for checks to cash.
- People often don't know they're a victim until the payee says they never received the check.
- It's often a long and complicated process to get your money back, some victims never do.
Mark Wilding noticed something was different at a mailbox in New York City last fall when he mailed some checks to pay bills.
“The one thing I remember is that it was just a little sticky. And I thought, well, it’s New York City, things are either sticky or dirty,” he said.
Wilding forgot about it until a credit card company told him his payment was late. He soon learned that someone had stolen the checks he mailed, or “fished” them from the mailbox. The checks – totaling $7,200 – were cashed at various banks, endorsed with fake names.
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“One check I’d written to a golf club I belong to had been cashed by someone named Cesar Bueno, and we realized something’s amiss here, it’s not right,” said Wilding.
Experts told the I-Team that mail fishing is a huge problem, contributing to check fraud. In fact, they estimate check fraud will reach $24 billion this year. But some victims say there’s another big problem: the banks. They say banks do very little to help them recover their stolen money.
No wonder you make so much money as a banking institution, because we’re the ones, when there are losses to be had, I end up losing my money and Wells Fargo says, ‘It’s not our problem.'
Mark Wilding
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Wilding said he’s a 30-year customer of Wells Fargo and was shocked when the bank wouldn’t refund his $7,200. Instead, he said Wells Fargo told him the banks that cashed the checks had to reimburse him. But he said Wells Fargo did little to help him track that down.
“You go to a banking institution thinking they will protect you in case of fraud, and Wells Fargo has said it’ll try,” said Wilding.
Consumer attorney Jay Rahimi believes banks aren’t always motivated to help victims of check fraud because the laws that govern checks aren’t consumer friendly.
For example, if you have a dispute involving an electronic transaction, such as debit card fraud, he said attorneys are more likely to take your case because there are consumer laws that require banks to pay your attorney fees if you win.
But in cases involving checks, banks aren’t responsible for those pricey attorney fees - you are.
“Unfortunately a lot of these consumers aren’t in a position to go hire an expensive attorney to prosecute a case like this,” said Rahimi.
After Wilding reached out to the I-Team, he finally got his money back. But it took six months.
In a statement to the I-Team, Wells Fargo said it followed an established process and recovered Wilding’s money from the banks where the checks were cashed. It also said it was disappointed the issue wasn’t resolved more quickly and easily.
Wilding feels the same way.
“No wonder you make so much money as a banking institution, because we’re the ones, when there are losses to be had, I end up losing my money and Wells Fargo says, ‘It’s not our problem,’” he said.
Tips to avoid check fraud:
- Pay your bills online.
- If you choose to mail a check, use a drop box inside a post office.
- Confirm the check was cashed by the payee, by confirming payment was posted to the account of the bill you paid, or looking to see who endorsed the check.
