Fraud! Check Scam Hits Rockaway

By Dan Guarino

With all the fast-paced data theft, credit cons, and cyber scams out there, the latest consumer fraud to hit Rockaway is low tech, very old school and hitting people all over the peninsula.

But up to now, most people had never heard of “check washing” until it happened to them.

As one resident explained, “In January, I sent a check out for $175 to a company in Florida. A few weeks later, I noticed the check hadn’t been cashed. I kept checking my account. Then, suddenly, I find a couple thousand dollars is missing from my bank account!”

It turns out scammers stole his mailed check. Then, using ordinary chemicals like bleach or nail polish remover, they wiped the name of the company it was made out to and the original amount. “The only thing they left was the date and my signature,” he said.

They then wrote in whatever name they wanted to cash the check under and a totally new amount. In this case, his original $175 check became one for $6,830, set to be cashed out from his unsuspecting account.

According to AARP, “Crooks steal checks left in mailboxes or remove mail deposited in U.S. Postal Service collection boxes by using keys stolen from mail carriers or by fishing them out with string and something sticky — like rodent glue traps or a glue-covered bottle.”

The man noted his check “had been cashed at some bank in Connecticut. They don’t even go into the bank except to set up the account (to cash or deposit the stolen checks with). They just take out whatever amount they want. Or they get some high school kid to open an account and say, ‘Hey, want to make some money? Go cash this check, and we’ll give you $300 from it.’ This way, if something happens, the kid, or whoever, gets in trouble, and they’re nowhere near it. But they can clean out your whole account.”

Thieves may also copy, use or sell your routing and account numbers to make fraudulent purchases with.

Fortunately, the man went straight to his bank once he noticed the discrepancy. “They were very helpful. I was able to get my money back. I was lucky. But I heard about somebody who lost $40,000 that way. Imagine if I hadn’t seen it right away?”

Another Rockaway woman was not so lucky. “I had two postal money orders washed. One for $50. Then another, for $358.60, for my brother’s rent. I put them in the box at the post office in Lawrence so they could pick

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Scam Hits

Continued from Page 28 it up in the morning and mail it right out.” That was February 1. Neither check made it to their destination. “I had to pay $14 to have a trace put on both money orders. The $50 they couldn’t find. The other was cashed on February 13 by some unknown person. They washed the name and changed it to some guy’s name who was giving it to another person, going into some unknown account.”

It might seem like a printed-out money order, especially a postal one, would be more secure. It’s true, she said, “they can’t wash out the amount on a money order. But they can change the name on it and who it is going to.”

She did go to the Nassau County Police Department’s 4th Precinct to report the incident. “They took the information and gave me a letter that said it was fraud,” she said.

To date, however, she has been unable to recover any of her money. So, besides the time and funds spent trying to resolve the issue, she is now out of pocket for yet another $50 owed and another $358.60 for her brother’s rent.

As one of the NYPD’s 100th Precinct Community Affairs Officers, PO Victor Boamah often addresses groups to bring awareness of check washing and other scams.

“Seniors are affected the most,” he said. “Two weeks ago, we had someone who went to the postal mailbox by Beach Channel Drive. She mailed her mortgage payment. When she put it in, two to three weeks later the bank said they never received it. They found that someone had gotten the check.”

He noted overall, such incidents at the 100th Precinct have been decreasing. But “the key is to employ all methods available to prevent you from becoming a victim in the first place,” Boamah said.

If you are mailing checks for bills and such, he said, “mail it directly inside the post office.” If you must use a mailbox, “make sure you put your envelopes all the way in the slot.”

Even better, Boamah suggests paying your bills online. Nearly all service providers offer, even encourage, the option to pay directly from your checking account. Customers can sign up for automatic payments or opt to go online and authorize an individ- ual payment each month. Either over the phone or in-person, most banks will assist their customers in setting this up.

Boamah also recommends signing up for automatic alerts every time a check is presented for payment from your accounts. Also, he suggests credit monitoring sites, like Credit Karma, which alert you if anyone is fraudulently trying to apply for a loan or get a credit card using your information. But “if you find out you are a victim, don’t hesitate to call 911 right away,” Boamah said.

And as the first Rockaway resident mentioned advises, be vigilant. “Now, when I’m having my coffee every morning at 8 a.m., I check my accounts online. I feel bad for the people who don’t usually check their accounts, who don’t go online, and just get a paper statement every month. ‘Cause then it’s too late.”

To schedule a presentation on check washing and/or other scam prevention, please contact the Community Affairs unit at the 100th Precinct at 718-318-4233 or at the 101st Precinct’s unit at 718-868-3441.

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

By Lou Pastina

Yes, “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once” was the big winner at the Oscars this year. A bizarre story about the metaverse, whatever that is, with time travelling characters making no sense at all. This is what goes for an Oscar winner these days, who knows maybe someday we will look back and think, “what a classic!” But for now, I think it’s just some weird movie with some very disturbing undertones.

Which brings me to Rockaway. If you have come out of hibernation recently, you will notice that there is construction work everywhere, all at once! The beach project is live uptown, midtown and downtown. Who knows if any humans will be able to use the beach this year. Never mind that we had a mild winter when much of this work could have been done, the powers that be have decided to do all the work everywhere this summer. What am I talking about you say? Well, the rock jetties are still being installed, the dunes are being rebuilt with cement and metal and then covered in sand, entrances are being reimagined into wiggly paths, the Neponsit Home is being knocked down and various houses are being knocked down for more condos. Some of this makes sense, but why all at once?

I also don’t understand why the rock jetties seem to be more on the sand then out in the water. The older built jetties all reach out into the water and allow beach walkers to walk continuously rather than around. And doesn’t nature eventually take its course? I mean won’t the sand that covers the cement and metal barriers eventually blow away exposing dangerous materials on the beach to navigate around, especially for kids. Granted I’ll be long gone, but someone, like our grandchildren will have to deal with that, no?

And this notion that a seawall should be built across Jamaica Bay that will somehow magically protect everyone from the bay during a storm? How about the impact on the health of the bay if only a trickle can get through that sea gate? Not to mention the impact on the wildlife. Sometimes I wonder if any of us will even recognize Rockaway when all this is done. And knowing the government, be it federal, state or city – won’t they come back and ask for their pound of flesh in repayment? Did I hear more shelters and denser housing? Forget about driving, they don’t want anyone doing that anywhere, anytime, and never at once. I’m usually an optimist, but this much change, especially when implemented by bureaucrats who don’t live here, is unsettling.

Speaking of change and unsettling, St. Francis College, the alma mater of my sister, brother, son, nephews, and me, recently eliminated their entire Athletic Program, this coming on the heels of their move from beautiful Brooklyn Heights to Downtown Brooklyn. The school is in deep financial trouble and their current President over the last seven years has been asked not to come back. Apparently, a planned sale of the old campus did not go through, which leaves a big financial vacuum to fill. I understand that every small college in America is facing the same issues. But SFC has a large and successful alumni group that could have been leveraged rather than alienated. This is an example of Nothing, Nowhere, All at Once!

I guess what I am thinking is that we need transparency, commitment, and involvement on a constant basis here, there, and everywhere or Rockaway could go by the way of St. Francis College, and that would be a crying shame for all times.

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