In the latest cases of mailbox thefts, checks were stolen before mail carriers picked them up, then the checks were washed and higher amounts added that were given to people with different names, police said.
A check put in an envelope placed in a home mailbox on Bittersweet Lane was stolen, washed, rewritten and fraudulently cashed, police said.
The victim told police he put the envelope in his home mailbox on Jan. 9. He noticed on Jan. 19 that his bank statement showed the check cashed for a much larger amount and made out to someone he didn’t know.
Police contacted the person whose name was put on the check, and they found out that person was also a victim of identity theft.
Previously, another resident of Bittersweet Lane had reported a theft of a check from a home mailbox.
A check mailed from a home mailbox on Denhurst Place on Dec. 19 was reported stolen and fraudulently cashed, police were told. A man said that on Jan. 20 he was alerted by his bank that a large withdrawal had been made from his account.
The bank statement showed a check cashed for a much larger amount that the original check had been made out for, and a stranger’s name had replaced the original payee.
At the time the man spoke to someone at the bank, there was no information available on how the check was cashed.