'They could empty a whole bank account,' Police warn of mailbox fishing scheme
WATERTOWN - They were just trying to mail in their bills when they got a call from their bank that someone was trying to cash a check of theirs for thousands of dollars.
Dottie and Charlie Leighton, 75 and 76 years old of Watertown, have been dropping off their mail at the same USPS Box for years. Days after mailing a few checks, their bank called them to inform them someone was trying to cash a check for $9,800. Turns out that check was originally written for under $40 to pay a National Grid bill.
The bank flagged it and ultimately held off on cashing it. The Leightons had to open a new checking account and work with the bank to determine what other checks had been taken.
"Very stressful and upsetting because we still have four checks out there that are unaccounted for," said Dottie. "They could empty a whole bank account out. We have quite a bit in the checking account and luckily they stopped it."
Police said the Leightons are just the latest victims of USPS mailbox "fishing" schemes. Thieves approach those blue USPS drop boxes with homemade devices and "fish" the mail out of the box. They sort through it and look for checks before "washing" those checks clean so they can change the name and amount of money.
In recent weeks, this scheme has played out in communities like Arlington, Weston, Wellesley, Needham and now Watertown.
The Watertown Police Department encouraged people to be aware of this rise in "fishing" cases. In a statement they said, "If you are mailing any type of payment in the form of a check, please consider mailing it from inside the post office."
No arrests have been made in the Leightons case.