Check stolen from East TN Better Business Bureau: How to avoid check washing

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — They’re almost becoming a weekly news headline, ransomware attacks, that paralyze computers until you pay a big fee. Still, an old-fashioned way of stealing money remains: check washing.

Several East Tennessee businesses have had checks washed recently. Check washing consists of thieves using chemicals to remove some written information on a check and then rewrite it as they please. Postal inspectors say this form of theft has also become increasingly prevalent in recent years.

At the Better Business Bureau of Greater East Tennessee, President Tony Binkley and his staff help people find trustworthy businesses, brands, and charities. Binkley is also aware of scams. Recently, the bureau was targeted by a fraudster. A paper check sent through the mail to the BBB’s health health insurance company was intercepted.

The insurance company’s name was “washed” allowing a new name to appear as the payee. The monthly check was sent to pay health care benefits for the BBB’s employees, including Binkley.

“So, we get a notice that we haven’t received your check for health care for a particular month. So, we just assumed the check was tied up in the mail, lost in the mail, or misplaced. So, we issued another check,” said Binkley.

As time passed, he found both checks had cleared the account. However, the BBB was credited for only one check.

“On further investigation, we realized that both the checks had been cashed. We contacted the insurance company, but they had only received one. So when we looked at the picture of the physical check. It had been acid-washed and cashed and made out to somebody completely different,” said Binkley.

He added that the BBB has seen additional reports of this from around the Knoxville area.

“It happened to one of our board members. So we know of at least five or six other companies this has happened to in the Knoxville area alone over the past few months,” Binkley said. “We just got a report last week from some businesses in the Pigeon Forge area that this has happened to. Two different businesses. We now have alerted the FBI and they’re doing an investigation into this.”

Here are ways to foil check washers:

• If possible, pay your bills online.
  • Paying bills online is safer than a check through the mail.
• If you write a check, deliver your mail to a post office, and don’t leave envelopes containing checks in your mailbox.
• Use a pen with blue or black non-erasable gel ink.
  • Gel ink soaks into paper and may be more difficult to remove than ballpoint pen ink.

“We got the money back and every business I have talked to so far has gotten their money back. But it is a process and it’s cumbersome. It involves changing your bank account because your bank account has been compromised,” said Binkley.

The East Tennessee Better Business Bureau is now sending payments online to their health care company.

In the case of check washing, the number one rule is to only write a check with a gel pen, not ballpoint, a gel ink seeps into the paper, making it unwashable, unlike other pen ink. Most bills are payable online now, which can eliminate the need for physical checks, making it far less likely to experience check cooking or washing.

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