Another Chestnut Hill resident approached the Local last week alleging that a check he mailed on behalf of his business was stolen from the outdoor USPS mailbox at the corner of Germantown Avenue and Gravers Lane.

Like the previous incident reported in last week’s Local article about mail theft, the check was washed and cashed at a bank, this time a PNC.

“It’s obvious the check was washed,” said the source, who wanted both his name and the name of his business withheld. “They didn’t change the amount. They changed the name and they changed the address.”

According to the source, the check had been written for $17,830.19 on Friday, April 29, and was mailed later that day. The source said PNC Bank, which was able to refund him the money he lost, was “really helpful.”

“I didn’t lose anything,” he said, “but it’s still pretty frustrating.”

The source said the check’s intended recipient had complained about not receiving the check the following Tuesday. On Wednesday, the source noticed that the check was listed as “pending” in his bank account despite the intended recipient still not having received the check. That’s when he realized something was wrong.

“I called PNC right away and we looked at the check online and it was pretty obvious it had been washed,” he said. “As I recall, later that afternoon I filed a police report.”

The source also contacted the Postal Inspection Service to file a report that same day, and followed that up with multiple attempts to contact that office. But as of Monday, June 13, he still hadn’t received a response, he said.  

George Clark, postal inspector at the Philadelphia Division of the Postal Inspection Service, said the Postal Inspection Service is “working with local law enforcement, the local district attorneys and the U.S. Attorney’s office to investigate complaints and leads in an effort to hold accountable the people who have stolen checks.”

“The goal,” Clark continued, “is to develop larger, provable, conspiracies in an effort to bring significant cases against the people [who] have stolen checks.”

Clark also stressed the importance of not mailing checks after the last collection time listed on the box.

“Do not mail letters after the last pickup time at a collection box such that letters sit in a box overnight,” Clark said. “I still believe that most of these thefts occur in the middle of the night. Encouraging people to wait until the following day will be the best strategy for drastically reducing check thefts.”

If residents witness people around blue collection boxes who do not appear to be Postal Service employees, Clark said, they should call 911 and report a possible theft.

“Some of our most productive leads have occurred when citizens call police while a theft is in progress,” he said.