Yo dawg we heard you like mail theft and check fraud
On Saturday Sept. 26 I mailed a bill payment to AAA at the drop box in front of the Henrico Government Center on Parham. This morning, I got an alert on my banking app that the same check was negotiated yesterday in the amount of $9,800, which, if you aren't aware, is considerably greater than AAA's annual membership fee.
Intrigued, I looked up the check on my banking app. Lo and behold, some asshole stole the check, altered it to put himself (or someone whose identity he stole) in as payee, and forged the amount boxes. The check was negotiated at some mostly online bank.
Reports filed with postal inspector and Henrico police. The money is supposed to be refunded in a couple days, but I'll have to open a new account and arrange for payment of the various bills I've paid in the meantime from what is clearly now a compromised account. I'll also have to change my direct pay info for various vendors. In other words, a colossal pain in the ass.
Be safe out there, kids. Criminals are everywhere, and in this instance it's hard to imagine that someone in the USPS wasn't responsible. Where's McGruff when I need him?