MATTHEWS, N.C. — Business owners beware. The Matthews Police Department said there has been a recent pattern of thieves targeting mail at commercial businesses. The focus appears to be stolen checks that are in high demand.
“They are taking it out of the outgoing mailbox and taking these checks and altering them some way," Matthews Police Public Information Officer Tim Aycock said. "In some cases, we’ve even seen them duplicating it -- basically cloning that check into another duplicate to fraudulently cash it or deposit it into their account.”
According to police reports, in one case a dentist's office said a check worth more than $1,300 was stolen from their office mailbox. Right now there are nearly a dozen cases Matthews detectives are investigating, but so far no arrests.
“They think it’s an easy target a lot of times and there’s more money coming in and going out this time of year," Aycock said.
Police recommended businesses and even homeowners consider other alternatives aside from mailing checks.
“Look at maybe some digital format, taking your outgoing mail to the post office and that type of thing to deter this from happening," Aycock said.
Contact Briana Harper at bharper@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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