Thieves stealing checks from US postal boxes

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department sent out a community alert Tuesday to notify residents of the 1st, 8th, 12th and 16th districts of a series of thefts and forgeries involving checks being stolen out of mailboxes.

Police said victims are depositing checks — for delivery — into US postal boxes located on the street, then unknown suspects are removing mail from the mailboxes through what appears to be the use of a postal key in the evenings or on the weekends.

The checks are then being altered through a ‘washing’ process, or a new, fictitious check is being printed by a computer with a stolen check’s matching account and routing number so that a larger amount can be written on the fake check.

Here is a list of addresses near where the incidents are alleged to have happened:

• 5200 block of South Natchez Avenue on Oct. 4, 2022 at 12:30PM
• 200 block of North Columbus Drive on Oct. 9, 2022 at 5:00PM
• 5900 block of North Northwest Highway on Oct. 10, 2022 at 2:00PM
• 7200 block of North Touhy Avenue on Oct. 25, 2022 at 9:00PM
• 900 block of South May Avenue on Oct. 4/5, 2022 around 8:00AM

If you or someone you know has information that can help lead to an arrest and conviction in connection to any of these deceptive practices, CPD urges you to reach out to the Central Investigations Detectives at (312) 746-8253, or place an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.