Cary man warns of check washing scheme after his money was stolen out of the mail

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Cary man who was the victim of a check washing scheme has a strong warning for others.

He reached out to Eyewitness News to tell his story. The more we asked around, the more we found the problem is more prevalent than you think.

"You feel a little victimized when you try and do the right thing," said Jim Johnson. "To be safe with the things you mail and try to have confidence that will be handed appropriately and it wasn't."

Jim came to a secure USPS box near High House Road and Northwest Cary Parkway last month to drop a check off. He said he writes checks for a contractor who works on his home near Asheville. That contractor isn't as tech savvy.

"The contractor calls me the following weekend and said it hasn't shown up and the check I put into the box on the 8th of September in Cary was cashed on the 9th," said Jim, who showed us the check for nearly $2,200.

Except the name on the check--Larry Ruffin--isn't the name of his contractor.

"It had been washed, the name had been altered," Jim said. The amount was still the same but it was changed within 24 hours of my putting it into a secure mailbox."

He filed a report with the Cary Police Department. They told him he was the third person in September to experience this.

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"What is new is old again," said Peter Gwaltney, president and CEO of the North Carolina Bankers Association. "This is something that died down years ago and it's come back dramatically in the past couple of years so it's a big problem that the whole industry is dealing with."

Gwaltney said the number of checks written has gone down significantly over the years: from 50 billion in 1995 to 11 billion last year.

He said checks now make up just 9% of the way people pay for things. Except when they are used, they account for 66% of all fraud.

"We'd love to see customers use their automated bill pay, mobile payments and electronic payments to avoid this risk," Gwaltney said.

The Postal Inspector told Eyewitness News that they are doing an investigation and working with local law enforcement.

"It's given me pause for what I put in the mail," Jim said. "Unfortunately the bad guys are out there looking for an opportunity."

The Bankers Association recommends that if you mail a check, go inside the post office and drop it into a slot there. The association is also encouraging anyone this has happened to, to call their bank immediately.

Wells Fargo was able to get the money back to Jim, but in some cases consumers also have to pay the price.