‘People need to be aware’: Thieves swipe checks from mailboxes

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Thieves are siphoning a fortune from CSRA residents who are trying to pay their bills by mailing checks from postal drop boxes they thought were safe.

For example, a real estate business in Augusta complained on Oct. 5 that eight of its checks were stolen from a postal drop box at 1434 Stovall St.

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The checks – totaling more than $16,500 – were fraudulently endorsed and deposited into an unknown .

Authorities released a surveillance photo is the suspect, hoping someone would recognize him.

This isn’t just a problem in Richmond County.

We talked with one local business owner, Rob Ashe, about his similar experience with this.

“I was notified by my bank that two business checks that we had mailed out were cashed but not by the vendor to whom they were sent,” said Ashe.

The checks were never delivered to the right address.

“Fortunately, I have two s so I was able to use my other to continue doing business,” said Ashe. “My bank was able to the other bank quickly and get those funds reversed before it went any further.”

It was a close call, to say the least.

“I’ve seen a lot being in business for 25 years, but I’ve never seen anything this crazy,” said Ashe. “Business people need to be aware of the possibility of this happening and to watch your every single day.”

Ashe also said: “They’re after business s and they don’t know how much money we have in our but most businesses have a fair amount of money in there.”

It’s a situation where you want everything to be signed, sealed, and delivered to the right address and the right person.

“It wasn’t fun. We had reordered checks at our expense. But the bank was very cooperative in the whole process. It froze the so nothing could clear without me talking to the banker each day that went on for about 10 days or so,” said Ashe.

Columbia County Sheriff’s Office reports have shown a steady increase in the past several weeks.

For example:

• A home developer reported Thursday that a person deposited two checks from the company into their own . One of the checks had been made out for $5,680 and the other had been made out for $3,450, and both had been for a landscaping company.
• A Columbia County funeral home owner wrote a check for more than $2,609 to Georgia Power on Aug. 18 and placed the check into a U.S. Postal Service collection box. Although Georgia Power never got the payment, the bank showed the check had been cashed. A deputy wrote that there was an open U.S. Postal Service investigation into thefts from the drop box the business owner had used.
• On Oct. 18, a Columbia County resident said he’d written a check for $1,600 to a hospital several weeks earlier and placed it in the blue postal drop box at the Martinez post office. He ultimately got a past-due notice from the hospital, even though the bank showed the check had cleared. A deputy reported the U.S. Postal Inspection Service had recovered numerous pieces of mail that had been stolen, including other checks written by the victim.
• A Columbia County resident this month told deputies she’d conducted an online bill pay to a dentist’s office on behalf of her mother. The bank was supposed to cut a check and mail it to the business. However, the dental office said it never got the money, even though the bank showed the check had been cashed. The dental office said there had been previous cases of checks being stolen from its mailbox.
• On Oct. 5, a Columbia County resident dropped off a check at the post office at 3301 Wrightsboro Road. It was for $100 and made out to a church. He later got a notice that his was overdrawn, so he went to the bank, where he learned the check made had been changed to $4,000 and cashed at an auto-teller.
• A Columbia County resident on Oct. 16 said he got a phone call from a creditor about being late on a payment. Yet he recalled writing a check for $2,902 and mailing it. His bank was able to retrieve a copy of the deposited check, which showed the payee name had been changed. The check was deposited to an using a mobile deposit feature.

The good news is that authorities are onto these schemes. On Oct. 11, Columbia County deputies were called to the Martinez post office at 125 Commercial Blvd. regarding a theft in progress by someone in a white Acura. While en route, the deputy saw the car coming from the post office. The three people in the car were questioned and then sent to Columbia County jail, according to deputies.

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