The checks are in the mail and thieves are swiping them, police say

DUNWOODY, Ga - An investigation underway in Dunwoody after an alarming number of checks sent through mail have been stolen.

"We've seen a significant uptick of thefts coming out of post office boxes," said Dunwoody Police Sgt. Michael Cheek.

It seems thieves know the check is in the mail and are swiping them. Dunwoody police have gotten around 50 cases in the past couple of months. Most of the reports are from people who have used the blue boxes outside the main post office, but there have been some from people who have dropped their mail off inside the post office.

"We don't know if it's internal, we don't know if it's someone who is fishing them out," said Sgt. Cheek.

Rob Disner knew he had a check that was about to be delivered because he gets a notification of his daily mail. The check never arrived.

"When you're stealing money directly out of people's pockets, they're going to be pretty perturbed," said Rob Disner.

Investigators say some of the checks that people are mailing are getting stolen and washed.

"They take a check, go through a process, and remove the live ink off it to where it's a blank check, and the integrity of the check is still there, so the account number is still there," said Sgt. Cheek.

Then whoever is stealing the check, writes it out to whoever they want, for any amount they want, often for thousands of dollars more.

Dunwoody police are working with the Postal Inspector, but they have not been able to track down who is behind this.

"It's frustrating it's happening to so many people," said Amanda McCaskill.

For Amanda McCaskill, it started with a company check her husband never received. Then a check she mailed out that never got there. She plans to stay away from the post office for a while.

"I don't have a lot of faith in them right now, so I'm not going to mail anything of importance anymore," said McCaskill.

Anyone with a missing check, and hasn’t report it yet, police want to know. It could be that report that helps give investigators a good lead on the case.

Police also say anyone with information about who is behind the thefts can send tips anonymously through the city's website at dunwoodyga.gov, then click on the police tab and go to "submit a tip".