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Lincolnwood Becomes Latest Suburb To See Pattern Of Mail Theft, Check Fraud
CBS News Local ^ | November 8, 2021 | Anonymous

Posted on 01/29/2022 2:48:38 PM PST by PBRCat

Police are investigating a pattern of mail theft and check fraud in north suburban Lincolnwood.

There are more than a dozen cases of people who say a fraudster tampered with their checks after they mailed them. CBS 2’s Tim McNicholas has learned it has also caught the attention of federal investigators.

Jeff Zimmerman doesn’t know a Natalie Martinez. So imagine his surprise when he learned a check written out to her drained $4,000 from his bank account.

“I decided to go downstairs, talk to my wife, and tell her we’ve got a problem,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman soon realized that was a check he wrote out—not to Natalie Martinez, but to AT&T for a $125 bill. After he mailed it, someone pasted over that and added a new payee name and a new dollar amount.

In examining the check, one can still see Zimmerman’s own writing poking out behind the fraudster’s, which he showed to an employee at his bank.

“He looked at it and said to me, ‘So far this year you’re about the fourth or fifth person to come to me – the same problem,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman said he dropped the check in a blue mailbox in Lincolnwood back in August.

The Lincolnwood Police Department has taken 17 other reports over the past year, all from people who had their checks altered after mailing them. The department said it is working with U.S. postal inspectors to investigate the pattern.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: 2021; banking; checkfraud; clickbait; crime; crimes; fraud; localnews; mail; oldnews; shutupthreadkaren; theft; usps
This is becoming a daily occurrence in the Chicago area.

Mail Fraud is rampant. It is no longer safe to mail a bill payment for fear that the enclosed check will be stolen and altered.

Where are the Postal Inspectors?

1 posted on 01/29/2022 2:48:38 PM PST by PBRCat
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To: PBRCat

There are a few thing you can do to prevent fraud. Number one is freezing your credit with the three credit agencies. The next is paying all bills online and never receiving any paper bills. Another is to use only bank ACH checks.

After three bouts of mail theft and fraud, this worked. For how long? I suppose until the thieves figure something else.


2 posted on 01/29/2022 2:58:13 PM PST by OpusatFR
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To: PBRCat

Lincolnwood, Ill for those of us who have no idea where this pace is.


3 posted on 01/29/2022 2:59:51 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: PBRCat

Mail fraud....I will wager that the fraud is commensurate with the increased number of minority hires within the Post Office. It is rare nowadays to go into a postal facility and see whites working there. The post office has hired minorities over Caucasians as a standard hiring practice for years.


4 posted on 01/29/2022 3:04:18 PM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: PBRCat

If there is no evidence of breaking into the blue mailboxes, then it’s a postal employee that is taking them and probably selling them or passing them on to an accomplice who does the actual forgery.

It may also be an employee of a postal contractor or temp/part timer worker. The kind that gets moved around to cover for regular employees taking vacations or sick days.

Spreading the thefts over multiple facilities makes it harder to spot the pattern.


5 posted on 01/29/2022 3:10:01 PM PST by Valpal1
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To: PBRCat
Fraud isn't contained to the USPS either.

We've seen the problems with FedEx in the news lately too, and not only them, but UPS as well.

About 90% of our vendor purchases are shipped UPS and I've had to put in a crazy amount of claims in lately for lost or stolen packages. They always seem to be obviously high-dollar items too, go figure.

6 posted on 01/29/2022 3:12:25 PM PST by thescourged1
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To: PBRCat
Where are the Postal Inspectors?

Investigating Steve Bannon and conservative groups raising money.

7 posted on 01/29/2022 3:16:10 PM PST by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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To: PIF

It is a solidly upper class suburb that shares a border with the far North side of the City of Chicago and the better known suburb of Skokie, Illinois.

Using a map is not that difficult.


8 posted on 01/29/2022 3:37:46 PM PST by PBRCat
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To: Valpal1

Drop boxes have been broken into on the streets. The crime ring has operated in Chicago, and suburbs such as Lincolnwood, Niles, Park Ridge, and the exurb Naperville in a neighboring county. Some postal workers were arrested in Naperville.

In the olden days, checks were hand processed and alterations were easier to spot. Using technology makes the work of scammers easier. Many of the forgeries are so obvious with white out or correction tape being added to the checks.

It also makes me wonder about election security based upon signature verification as judged by computers with the dials turned to zero so as to pass anything as valid.


9 posted on 01/29/2022 3:42:27 PM PST by PBRCat
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To: PBRCat

Using a map is not that difficult.


Including the town and state in the excerpt is not that labor intensive, since they are literally the first words of the body of the story.


10 posted on 01/29/2022 3:53:33 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: PBRCat

Under bank regulations, you have 90 days from the time you receive your statement to report a fraudulent check. Your bank will investigate, credit your account, and debit the account of the bank of first deposit. It’s now their problem. If they were foolish enough to provide encashment for a forged check, then they’re out the money.


11 posted on 01/29/2022 4:01:04 PM PST by proxy_user
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To: PBRCat
"Where are the Postal Inspectors?"


12 posted on 01/29/2022 4:19:21 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: vetvetdoug

See for yourself:

https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/7-charged-including-two-postal-carriers-in-money-laundering-scheme-involving-u-s-postal-service


13 posted on 01/29/2022 4:22:39 PM PST by PBRCat
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To: Bonemaker

It was hardly encouraging that the Postal Inspectors publicized successfully prosecuting 441 crimes in FY 2018.

That is less than a drop in the bucket.


14 posted on 01/29/2022 4:25:56 PM PST by PBRCat
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To: PBRCat

Everything is Chicago is just dirty and corrupt. It’s really sad how so many just keep voting for the same corruptocrats over and over again.


15 posted on 01/29/2022 4:42:13 PM PST by Valpal1
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To: Valpal1
It’s really sad how so many just keep voting for the same corruptocrats over and over again.

I am convinced by now that there is no real connection between the counts of who people vote for and the totals announced after the "elections".

The winners are appointed by the Democrat Party machine before the "voting" ever starts.

Other means will need to be found to get the thieves and grifters out of office.

16 posted on 01/29/2022 6:05:01 PM PST by flamberge (Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear)
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