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Although it is easier than ever to make payments digitally, many of us still find ourselves using the American postal service (USPS) To send money, whether by sending a rent check or by stimulating square with the IRS. Whatever reason, there are countless checks sent via the postal system every day. However, you may want to be cautious before dropping one in the mailbox, as the USPS issued a new warning concerning the shipping checks. Read the rest to discover what the agency advises customers to do now.

In relation: USPS makes these changes to your mail, from September 19 .

Florida postal customers face a major problem that has emptied thousands of their bank accounts. Resident of Boynton Beach Daniel Castiglione is the last victim of make money After sending a check to the city's post office, the WPTV affiliated to NBC reported on August 29.

"The check was $ 113 and I see a withdrawal from my current account at the amount of $ 2,560 and I said what it was," Castiglione told the media. "I started to think a little, I put two and two together, and I said that someone may have stolen something in my check."

A week before, WPTV had spoken to another victim named Lorna swartz , who said that a check for $ 50,000 she had sent to the IRS had was also slipped of the same installation.

"I called the police. I called the bank and indeed, it was confirmed that it was a fraudulent check, that someone other than the IRS had cashed," -He declared to the media.

In relation: USPS has just issued a new warning regarding email . AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

This type of incident is barely isolated in a community of Florida.

In February 2023, the US Department of the Financial Treasury Crimes Smart Network (Fincen) sent an alert Warning people through the country of a "national increase in fraud regimes per check linked to theft by mail". According to the agency, the check -up reports to the checks filed by banks almost doubled at 680,000 in 2022, against only 350,000 in 2021.

One of the most common tactics that thieves use to commit this fraud is control of control.

"After stealing checks to the American email, fraudsters and organized criminal groups can modify or" wash "checks, by replacing the beneficiary's information with their own identity or fraudulent or by corporate accounts that criminals control" , explained Fincen in his alert. "During the washing of checks, these illicit players also often increase the amount in dollars on the check, sometimes hundreds or thousands of dollars."

In relation: See a sticker on your mailbox? Don't touch it, said Usps .

In light of recent incidents in Boynton Beach and a national increase in check by check, the postal service urges customers to be more vigilant when sending checks. In a WPTV statement, a USPS spokesperson said the most important way people can protect themselves, paying attention to When They send their checks.

"We ask customers to observe the collection times on the collection boxes and if after the last programmed van inside the building to deposit their mail if in a post office," said the spokesperson. "If in another location, observe the pick -up time and do not place if after the scheduled time."

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One of the reasons why check by check is underway is that "the messaging system is not as secure As everyone thought, " Paul Benda , Vice-president Director of Operational Risks and Cybersecurity at American Bankers Association, said The New York Times . Consequently, he said that he advised people to send checks.

"We really recommend that if you can, use electronic payment methods," said Benda.

But some victims say that it is not a solution for everyone, and that you call in place the USP to do more to prevent the theft of mail and the washing of checks.

"You know, something should be done on this subject," Castiglione told WPTV. "You know, you have many elderly people living in the south of Florida which, I imagine, still write checks manually. They will be affected."