(WXYZ)- A century old crime is making a comeback…and it could cost you money next time you have to put a check in the mail.
Consumer reporter John Matraese explains what thieves are doing, and how to avoid it, so you don’t waste your money.
“Most of us are aware of the term phishing scam…when someone sends a bogus email claiming to be our bank or credit card,” Matraese said. “But there is another type of fishing scam now popping up, and this is the old fashioned type with a hook and string.
Patricia Moore shows what her tenants do when they mail her their monthly rent checks.
Several times this year, the landlord says, her checks have not arrived, after they were mailed at a blue USPS mailbox.
“My tenants told me they had brought their rent mail to a mailbox and put it in, and that’s all they knew,” said Moore.
Moore then talked to the branch manager, who informed her someone may have been stealing evelopes out of the boxes.
“The manager did mention something called fishing, where people are using types of contraption to get mail out of the mailbox after its been place there,” Moore said.
The local postal inspection confirms that an investigation is underway, and says this century old crime is making a comeback nationwide.
Inspectors say thieves go fishing in mailboxes at night. It happens most often at the end of the month, when tenants put their rent in the mail.
Pat had one money order traced, and found that the money order had be altered and cashed.
She’s urging her tenants not to mail checks in the evening…at blue mailboxes on city streets.
Your best best is to mail check through the mail slot inside of the post office.
If you use a blue mailbox, try not to put in a check if its going to sit there all weekend or overnight.
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