BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Gregory Rabb thought he was safe mailing his checks, but two weeks ago, he became the victim of a sophisticated fraud scheme that cost him nearly $10,000.
"You don't feel safe, you feel threatened," Rabb said.
Rabb was the victim of what's called check washing, where thieves steal checks from the mail, erase the payee and dollar amount, then change it to benefit themselves.
The nightmare began when Rabb received an unexpected call from KeyBank.
"I got a call on my phone, a voicemail from the bank, saying somebody's here with a check. Should we cash it?" Rabb told 7 News. "And before I could call up and say 'Don't,' they did it."
He immediately rushed to his bank branch to shut down his account, but it was too late.
"The damage had already been done with two checks," Rabb said. "So it's $4,700 and $4,800. It's almost $10,000. I mean, that's a lot of money."
Rabb also reported the crime to police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
He said bank officials told him they believe he was a victim of check washing.
"Washed it right out and he washed the amount out," Rabb said.
WATCH: 'You do feel violated': North Buffalo man speaks out after losing nearly $10,000 in check washing scam
Despite not being physically harmed, Rabb said the emotional impact was significant.
"You know, anytime you're a victim of a crime, you do feel violated," Rabb said.
Now, Rabb wants to warn others about the dangers of mailing checks.
"Well, I've seen some reports in the paper and on TV news, but I don't think people realize how bad it is," Rabb said.
"I wanted to get the word out, just to protect everybody else, everybody, whoever watches Channel 7, to be careful," Rabb said. "And there's ways to help yourself."
"I don't want anybody else to have to go through this," Rabb said.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service offers several tips to protect against check washing:
If using blue mailboxes, deposit mail right before the latest pickup time. However, going directly to the post office is even safer.
Remove delivered mail from your mailbox as soon as possible and never leave it overnight.
Use gel pens instead of ballpoint pens when writing checks, as the ink is harder to erase.
Here's a link to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's page on checkwashing.
Here's information from KeyBank about mail theft and check fraud.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
