Thieves Forging Checks Stolen Out Of Mailboxes Ring Making ‘Easy Money’ By Striking In Rural Areas

It’s a forger’s dream: a box full of blank checks free for the taking.

Many Spokane-area residents are unwittingly fulfilling that wish by having new boxes of personal checks delivered to their homes, police say.

A ring of thieves now operating in rural neighborhoods is stealing checks out of mailboxes and forging them. The crime is costing banks thousands of dollars and residents a lot of hassle.

“It’s easy money,” said Jan Pogachar, a Spokane police detective.

Pogachar said there has been a recent rash of the thefts in Spokane County, including cases in Deer Park and one near Mount Spokane.

The thieves cruise the rural roads and “randomly dig through mailboxes” until they find the blank checks, Pogachar said.

“A lot of people are gone during the day, and unfortunately, we don’t look out for each other like we used to,” she said.

The crooks then make the checks out to themselves - usually in increments of $250 or $500 - and forge the owner’s name. They sometimes add phrases such as “for ice storm clean-up,” on the memo line, Pogachar said.

The thieves often will go to one branch after another to cash checks. Detectives are investigating one case where more than $5,000 in stolen checks were passed.

“Usually the bank customer doesn’t even know there’s a problem until the forged checks begin appearing, sometimes a week or two later,” she said. “A victim could have thousands of dollars in forged checks against their account before they even know it’s happening.”

The banks usually absorb the loss, but residents must fill out paperwork to report the thefts and order more checks.

Detectives encourage people to have their personal checks delivered directly to their bank branch or to their place of business to cut off the thieves’ supply.

, DataTimes