Police In Eastern Montgomery County Warn Of Check Fraud

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Local police are urging people to be careful when placing checks in their outside mailboxes following several reported incidents of check fraud that have taken place during the past couple of months.

The Lower Moreland Police Department in eastern Montgomery County have issued a warning to individuals putting checks through the mail after officers received several reports of fraud taking place.

Police said three incidents in particular took place in the township recently involving checks that were apparently stolen and made out for higher amounts.

In one incident, on March 4, a victim reported that they placed checks in their own mailbox on their property for bill payments, and a month later they received a bank statement showing that the checks were issued to unknown individuals in large amounts, and that the total monetary loss was close to $20,000.

A second incident took place on April 1 when a victim said they had placed a check in their mailbox for a bill payment, and the check ended up being returned to the victim from the bank, at which time the victim noticed the forgery.

In that case, the check had been made payable to an unknown person in the amount of $8,900.

And lastly, two victims reported on April 28 that they had placed a check in their residential mailbox for a bill payment, and that they ended up receiving a letter stating that their bill was overdue, at which time they reviewed their bank statements to discover the check had been stolen and forged by someone, with the total monetary loss at nearly $3,400.

Police are asking residents to be careful about placing paper checks in their mailboxes in light of the numerous fraud incidents.

If you have been a victim of a similar type of check fraud, the Lower Moreland Police Department is asking you to contact Detective Morgan Caltabiano at 215-947-3132 or through email at mcaltabiano@lowermoreland.org.