There’s a new crime that has been on the rise since Covid.  It’s called mail-fishing. 

What exactly is it?  People are going to mailboxes and taking mail out of them.  They do it two ways.  They put two-way tape on the inside of the door that you pull down to put the mail in.  That way, instead of going into the box, it gets stuck on the door.  The other way they are taking mail is by sticking a poker with a sharp end, into the mailbox.  They then stab the mail and pull it out of the box.

They are interested in checks you’ve written to pay bills or send as gifts.  Some are skilled enough to wash the checks and remove all the writing except your signature.  Others just change the payee and amount.  They get away with this because most times they deposit it electronically or by ATM, to fake accounts they have created.  Did you know you can open a bank account by mail?

This allows people to create fake accounts using stolen licenses.   My friend recently experienced this.  She had paid a several bills by mail.  She used a mailbox on Warwick Ave.  Several days later she received a phone call from Citizens Bank.  They called her because there was a woman in the bank trying to cash a check from my friend’s account.  This check was washed so she filled in her name and amount.  Something seemed suspicious, so they stalled her and called my friend.

The woman must have suspected something was up because she left, before cashing the check. Being alarmed, my friend checked her account and saw that in addition they had altered a check that was written to pay a bill.  In this case, they wrote over the payee and amount in black magic marker.  An electronic reader picked up the magic marker amount and cashed it.  After repeated calls and lots of time she was able to get her money back.

There are ways to avoid this.  Avoid mailboxes that are on the road.  Go into the post office and put it in the slot instead of using the box outside.  Finally, and my favorite is to pay electronically.  This allows you to do it from the comfort of your home and gives you an electronic trail if there is a problem.  The banks have set up several layers of safety to protect you.

 Now for a few updates… Red, my resident woodpecker is still single and based on his frequency of pecking on my chimney, more desperate than ever.  He now returns every several hours and has added evening hours.  Jeez, Louise!  I’m offering several workshops in April.  Make your own Aromatherapy Body Butter and Scrub and Make your own decorative seasonal mesh wreath.  You can find the details in the Beacon Buzz, in this paper or on Meetup.com or SixtiesandSexy.net.  Have some fun, learn some skills and leave with products…it’s a win-win!