Thieves have stolen $250,000 worth of checks from metro post office

DUNWOODY, Ga. — Thieves have swiped more than $250,000 in checks that police say were dropped in postal mailboxes or inside a metro post office.

Channel 2′s Tom Regan learned the issue has been going on for about two to three months at the post office in Dunwoody.

Police said most of the checks were snatched from envelopes dropped into mailboxes at the post office, but also say some were stolen from inside.

Amanda McCaskill told Regan that she’ll think twice before using the Postal Service again to send a check.

“Something is happening somewhere and probably by a lot of people,” McCaskill said.

She said a $1,000 insurance check that she dropped off inside the Dunwoody Post Office never made it to the recipient, plus an employer check mailed to her husband never arrived.

“My husband was supposed to get a check from his employer, we saw it was scanned to inform delivery. It never got here,” McCaskill said.

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She’s not alone. Police say in recent months, thieves have swiped 50 checks for an astounding amount of money.

“We estimate it’s at least $250,000 over the course of the last two to three months,” Sgt. Michael Cheek with the Dunwoody Police Department said.

Police say the thieves take the stolen checks and basically create new checks for themselves by washing them.

“They are removing the live ink off the check, preserving the integrity of the check, the account and routing number, all that stuff, and writing the check to whoever they please for whatever dollar amount,” Cheek said. “Unfortunately, the majority of these checks were cashed.”

McCaskill said she’s relieved the check she sent, and the one her husband didn’t get, haven’t been cashed. But she knows others who aren’t so lucky.

“People are saying the same thing happened to them, their checks were stolen and cashed, or their checks and their banking information was stolen, and they made fraudulent checks,” McCaskill said.

Regan contacted the postal inspectors’ office in Atlanta for comment about the check thefts, but so far, no one has responded.

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