LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — There are several ways to make a payment nowadays with credit cards, and money-sharing apps, a lot of it is digital. However, some still use the classic method— sending a check.
Although not as popular anymore, sending a check through the mail still leaves you vulnerable to thieves.
Little Rock police and the Arkansas Bankers Association said thieves are trying to steal money by intercepting checks before they reach their destination. Authorities call it "check washing" and it's happening at personal and post office mailboxes.
"It's just not right," Alana Hardin said. "Especially for hardworking individuals, to have someone just come and just take their money and get away with it."
Hardin said she quickly figured out something went wrong when she sent a check in the mail, but her intended recipient never received it.
"That day, I just happened to double-check on it," Hardin said. "It was written out to someone I had never made a check out to before and it appeared to be either cashed or deposited."
Hardin went to the bank and was able to void the payment for a refund. The situation made her more aware of when she sends checks in the future for her construction business.
"When you have people like this out there, it just makes it even tougher," Hardin said. "You have just to be diligent."
Hardin filed a police report, which is something Lorrie Tregdon with the Arkansas Bankers Association recommends.
Tregdon said to also contact your bank and the post office immediately if you think you're being check washed.
"It is rampant right now," Tregdon said. "We're hearing about it all over the U.S. It's not just here in Arkansas."
According to the United States Postal Inspection Service, check washing involves changing the payee's name and the dollar amounts on checks by washing them with chemicals and then depositing them.
"If you happen to go out of town and you leave your mail in your mailbox, you don't stop it at the post office, or you don't have a trusted friend pick it up," Tregdon said. "It's just sitting there easily accessible for them to come by and steal it."
Tregdon recommended paying online and using a certain kind of pen if you have to mail checks.
"The type of pen where the ink bleeds a little bit into the paper is the hardest to wash away," Tregdon said. "I would say a felt tip Sharpie, things like that."
Little Rock police have had at least 10 check washing reports in the last six months.
The LRPD Public Information Officer said the secret service is handling the investigations.