Our Fraud specialists have learned about an increase in a common check scam in the local area. Scammers steal legitimate checks from the mail and alter or recreate the checks with new signatures, payees and often raised amounts. The checks are often difficult to uncover using standard fraud review at financial institutions as they share the same serial number and check stock as legitimate checks.

If you mail checks, please monitor your accounts diligently, especially over the next couple of weeks. Please notify your financial institution immediately if you notice any unauthorized transactions on your account.

In addition, please note that most financial institutions allow you to send payments to businesses and people electronically using their online and mobile banking systems. If you aren’t sure how, reach out to your financial institution for more information.