Check fraud is on the rise, and it’s targeting the U.S. mail — but the national trend hasn’t caught up with Butler County, yet.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury sent an alert earlier this year stating that Suspicious Activity Reports related to check fraud nearly doubled last year, and that in 2021, reports of check fraud increased nationally by 23% compared to 2020.

Pat Collins, a Butler Township resident, said that she pays her bill to Peoples Gas by check each month. She said she has never experienced mail theft and that she drops her mail off in the mailbox directly outside the post office.

“Nobody — knock on wood — messes with our mail,” Collins said.

Keith McCauley, another Butler Township resident, said his mail is secure.

According to Butler Township police Chief John Hays, reports of identity theft rose during the coronavirus pandemic with scammers filing fraudulent unemployment claims but reports of mail theft and check fraud have been minimal.

The last reported case of stolen mail in Butler Township occurred about three or four months ago, he said.

In the past several months, the countrywide surge of check fraud made headlines in national publications such as USA TODAY and The New York Times.

“It may not be safe to mail checks anymore,” a USA Today article published on July 5 warned. The article continued to offer advice to those who mail checks, citing an expert who recommended using a secure mail drop, such as one located within a post office, when sending checks.

The coverage followed a May announcement from the United States Postal Service and United States Postal Inspection Service that would expand its efforts to protect postal employees and the security of mail as “threats and attacks on letter carriers and mail fraud incidents have escalated concurrently with a national rise in crime.”

How to prevent mail theft

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The U.S. Postal Service offers these tips for customers to avoid mail theft:

√ Don’t let incoming or outgoing mail sit in your mailbox.

√ Deposit outgoing mail through a number of secure manners including inside your local post office or at your place of business or by handing it to a letter carrier.

√ Sign up for informed delivery and get daily digest emails that preview your mail and packages scheduled to arrive soon.

√ Become involved and engaged in your neighborhood through neighborhood watches and local social media groups.

√ Keep an eye out for your letter carrier. If you see something that looks suspicious, or you see someone following your carrier, call 911.

√ Customers can report stolen mail by submitting an online complaint to the Postal Inspection Service at www.uspis.gov/report or calling 877-876-2455.

√ Allegations of Postal Service employee misconduct can be reported to the USPS OIG at 1-888-877-7644 or www.uspsoig.gov.

High volume mail theft — including thefts from the blue collection boxes — have been increasing, according to the Postal Service. The agency reported 38,500 incidents in fiscal year 2022 and more than 25,000 in the first half of fiscal year 2023.

More than 400 letter carriers were robbed in fiscal year 2022, the Postal Service reported. Again, the trend can be seen in fiscal year 2023, with 305 incidents reported in the first half of the year.

“As crime rises, so do the threats against our public servants,” said Louis DeJoy, postmaster general and chief executive officer, in the May news release. “Every postal employee deserves to work in safety and to be free from targeting by criminals seeking to access the public's mail.”

Among a series of actions promised in May, the Postal Service said that it would install 12,000 high security blue collection boxes nationwide and implement dual authentication identify verification for online change of addresses.

“We’re doubling down on our efforts to protect our postal employees and the security of the mail. We are hardening targets — both physical and digital — to make them less desirable to thieves and working with our law enforcement partners to bring perpetrators to justice,” said Gary Barksdale, postal inspection service chief.

The Butler postmaster was not able to be reached.

Last year, the Treasury identified check fraud as a money laundering threat that partly makes up the “largest source of illicit proceeds in the United States.”

The form of identity fraud has expanded beyond lone scammers pocketing mail to involve organized criminal groups, and has been growing since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a division of the U.S. Treasury, said in February.

“Criminals typically steal personal checks, business checks, tax refund checks, and checks related to government assistance programs, such as Social Security payments and unemployment benefits,” the Crimes Enforcement Network said in a news release. “Following the initial theft and fraudulent negotiation of the stolen checks, criminals may continue to exploit their victims by using the personal identifiable information found in the stolen mail for future fraud schemes, such as credit card fraud or credit account fraud.”

Targets include “USPS blue collection boxes, unsecured residential mailboxes, privately owned cluster box units at apartment complexes, planned neighborhoods, and high-density commercial buildings,” the Crimes Enforcement Network said.

Check fraud generally happens through “check washing,” a practice of stealing checks and washing them in chemicals to remove the ink. Check washing allows criminals to cash checks under different names and amounts, the United States Postal Inspection Services said.

Public accountant Michael J. Zima, whose firm is located along Freeport Road in Summit Township, said old and young residents alike can spot different kinds of fraud by regularly monitoring their bank statements.

“If they never check their bank statements, they might never find out,” he said.

The Postal Service recommends customers avoid the problem by removing mail from their mailboxes every day, securely depositing outgoing mail inside local post offices and signing up to receive daily digest emails that preview mail and packages scheduled to arrive.

Beth Herold, director of the Butler County Area Agency on Aging, said that while financial exploitation has risen across the state, Area Agency on Aging has not received reports of check fraud in particular. By contrast, the center receives about six to eight complaints a week about scam calls.

“We get scams all the time,” said Herold. “They call and they want money.”

From claims that seniors will win big in sweepstakes offers, to false IRS impersonations, puppy scams and more — Herold said the calls come in waves.

“(Seniors) fall for them and you feel so bad,” she said.

The FBI estimates that more than elder fraud schemes contribute to $3 billion in losses annually.

The elderly are also more likely to mail checks, Herold said.

Owner of Miller’s Shoes on Main Street, Jimmy Chiprean, used to receive customer checks regularly. Now, they receive just a few a month.

“(Mailing checks) is what a lot of seniors are used to and that’s what they use. It’s a very difficult thing to change in some seniors. A lot of them don’t have computers or have access to computers,” Herold said.