What Is Mail Washing And Could It Happen In Amarillo?

We live in a world full of attempted scammers, and some actually get away with it.

You know, all the random phone calls and emails you get. Claiming you owe money from an old bill, or congratulations you've won a sweepstakes, we just need some info.

While those are getting easier and easier to pin down, there's one that is beginning to creep up and it's a bit tougher to do anything about.

It's called mail washing, and it's starting to pop up in Florida. So what is mail washing? Allow me to explain.

Mail washing is when someone hops into your mailbox and grabs your mail hoping there's a personal check in there. I know, it seems like there are not a lot of people that write checks anymore, but for those who do this can be costly.

Once the person has their hands on a check, they take some special chemicals that can wipe out anything written on the check, essentially giving the thief/scammer a blank check. While most just clear out the name to write their own then cash it, some actually change the dollar amount on it as well.

A couple of people in Florida were recently taken for well over $10,000 a piece because of this scam.

Looking around Amarillo and how the mail system seems to work here, I'm noticing it could become a problem if we aren't careful. Some people still have the mailbox out front on the curb, and that seems to be the easiest way for you to become a victim.

Others have mail drops that dump onto a porch and some have the mailbox attached to their house. No matter what type of mailbox you have, you can become a victim of this mail washing scam.

From what I've been able to gather, the targets seem to be areas where older people live. Why? Because they are typically the ones that still write checks and send them in to pay bills or for other reasons.

My recommendation to avoid this new scam? Any personal checks you're mailing out, take them directly to the post office and drop it off with someone at the front counter or one of the indoor mail drops there. This will ensure you don't get taken to the cleaners.

Just another scam to be aware of in a world that seems to be full of them now.