Here is a story of a stolen check – ID Theft, how they found out about it, and what they did.
Sally and her husband were living in student housing in Chicago. She was supporting both of them at the time when a personal check was stolen. Because they were living in an apartment run by the university, all rent payments had to come out of her husband’s bank account. This led to a complicated financial situation. At the time money transfers were more complicated so Sally would have to write her husband a check through the bank and have it sent to them by mail. But, this time the check included rent and a portion of their tax return and it never got to them.
How Sally Found Out
Sally followed up with the bank to cancel her check. The bank indicated that they couldn’t do it because it had already been cashed. The bank provided an image of the check and someone else had signed her husband’s name to the check.
What She Did About It
To be able to afford their monthly rent payment while sorting out the stolen money situation, Sally opened a credit card through her bank and borrowed cash from her credit line. To recover the stolen cash, she filed a police report with her local precinct.
Sally told them everything that happened, but because it was clear that the check had been stolen from a mailbox, they said it wasn’t under their jurisdiction — and they had to fill out a report with the postal police instead. They filled out multiple reports with the postal police, but they never got back to us. Luckily, the bank accepted my screenshots of the report. As long as it was documented with legal authority, they felt it was fine. About a month later, the funds were restored to Sally’s bank account.
Sally and her husband are lucky, this scenario rarely ever works out for the victim without the guidance of a trained recovery advocate.
Stay safe, click carefully and watch for scams because a Stolen Check – Identity Theft incident is a horrible experience.
