United Parish in Brookline is grateful to have gotten its money back after a check for over $9,000 was stolen from the mail and fraudulently deposited on Christmas Eve. Thanks to the hard work of Brookline Bank in Coolidge Corner, the church was able to have the money refunded two months later.
“This is absolutely a miracle and so glad that you got the funds back!!” said Sasha Liang, Branch Manager at Brookline Bank. Business bank accounts do not have the same protections as individual bank accounts so it was unlikely that United Parish would ever see the money returned.
This is not the first time that United Parish’s mail sent through the USPS has not made it to its recipients. A handful of checks that United Parish has mailed over the years have never made it to their intended destinations.
Check washing is a very common scam that happens all the time where thieves change the name and address of a check and deposit it for themselves. According to the United States Postal Service Inspection Service “Check washing scams involve changing the payee names and often the dollar amounts on checks and fraudulently depositing them. Occasionally, these checks are stolen from mailboxes and washed in chemicals to remove the ink.”
If you’re the victim of a check washing scam, you should report it to your local bank branch, the local police, your insurance, the Postal Inspection Service, and the Federal Trade Commission.
There are ways people, businesses, and nonprofits can protect themselves from check fraud like this.
United Parish has worked on its risk mitigation and implemented safer procedures and policies going forward.
Senior Pastor Kent French was disheartened, frustrated, and disappointed to learn that a thief stole $9,000 from a church, on Christmas Eve no less, saying “This is an outrageous betrayal of public trust by the USPS.”
But to quote Psalm 126,
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
United Parish is “filled with joy” to have a happy ending and wants to share a word of caution to others so people can learn from this situation.