On September 9, 2024, FinCEN issued a Financial Trend Analysis (FTA) on mail theft-related check fraud incidents based on BSA data filed between February 27 and August 31, 2023. FinCEN received 15,417 BSA reports from 841 financial institutions on mail theft-related check fraud, amounting to more than $688 million in reported suspicious activity.
According to FinCEN, mail theft-related check fraud losses can affect personal savings, checking accounts, business accounts, brokerage accounts and retirement savings, as well as negatively impact financial institutions that typically cover check fraud losses. FinCEN identified three primary outcomes from perpetrators after stealing checks from the U.S. Mail: altering and depositing the checks; using the stolen checks to create counterfeit checks; and fraudulently signing and depositing the checks. Key findings of FTA are as follows:
Banks filed 88% of all mail theft-related check fraud reports;
Checks are most frequently altered and then deposited after they are stolen from the mail;
Methodologies range in sophistication;
Many perpetrators utilized methods that avoid human contact, including check deposits via remote deposit capture (RDC) or at automated teller machines (ATMs) and opening accounts online rather than in person; and
Mail theft-related check fraud is a nationwide problem.
Read FinCEN’s press release here.
The full Financial Trend Analysis can be found here.
