HENRY CO., Ill. (KWQC) - The Henry County Sheriff’s Office says it has received reports of people paying bills by mail with checks and having the checks tampered with.

In recent cases, the sheriff’s office said people are leaving checks in their own mailboxes and thieves are taking them and “washing” them.

Washing is a process where thieves use chemicals to erase the ink and write in a different recipient, the sheriff’s office said.

The name that is written in is typically a fake name that has been used to open a bank account. The sheriff’s office suggests three things:

Deposit outgoing mail directly into a USPS mail collection box or at the Post Office

Use black gel pens - while not completely unaffected they are more difficult to wash

Call the sheriff’s office or local police if

See Full Page