Still Sending Checks in the Mail? Stop, Experts Say

A practice that was common not so long ago has become increasingly risky — sending checks in the mail.But if you must send money this way, scour your account statements promptly.Skipping that advice can leave you vulnerable to check fraud, and may also make it more difficult to recover the money if you lose it.Joan K.

Atchinson, 63, a retiree who lives in Washington, D.C., is dealing with that right now.Ms.Atchinson said in a phone interview that she was trying to recover several thousand dollars stolen when someone intercepted a check she mailed last year.

The check was altered to be payable to someone else before it was cashed.After months of trying, she said, she still has not recovered payment from either of the two banks involved — Charles Schwab, where she has an account that she used to write the check, and Chase, where the falsified check was cashed.

“I’ve kind of lost hope.”How does this kind of check fraud work?Checks sent through the Postal Service have become targets for criminals in recent years.While fewer people write checks, the checks haven’t disappeared.

Two-thirds of adults say they rarely or never use paper checks, but more than a fifth either have experienced check fraud or know someone who has, according to a poll in 2025 by the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group.In some cases, thieves may pilfer one or more checks from local mailboxes.Adam Rust, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America, said thieves sometimes “fish” for checks at free-standing drop boxes, using long tools with sticky pads on the ends to grab letters.

In other cases, more sophisticated criminals may steal large batches of checks, copy them and then sell them on the internet.Often, the purloined checks are chemically altered in what’s known as “check washing” to remove the name of the recipient.The thief replaces it with a fraudulent name, and often increases the amount of the check, before cashing or ...