Cary man warns about check washing after his money was stolen from the mail

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) — A Cary man who fell victim to a check laundering scheme has a dire warning for others.

He reached out to Eyewitness News to share his story. The more we asked around, the more we discovered that the problem is more widespread than you think.

“You feel a little bit like a victim when you’re trying to do the right thing,” Jim Johnson said. “Be safe with the things you send and try to trust that they will be delivered appropriately, and that wasn’t the case.”

Jim stopped by a secure USPS mailbox near High House Road and Northwest Cary Parkway last month to drop off a check. He said he was writing checks to a contractor working on his home near Asheville. This contractor is not that tech savvy.

“The contractor calls me the following weekend and says he didn’t show up and the check I put in the mailbox in Cary on September 8th was cashed on September 9th,” said Jim, who gave us the check showed over almost $2,200.

Except the name on the check – Larry Ruffin – is not the name of his contractor.

“It was washed, the name was changed,” Jim said. The amount was still the same but was changed within 24 hours of me placing it in a secure mailbox.”

He filed a report with Cary police. They told him he was the third person this had happened to in September.

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“What’s new is old again,” said Peter Gwaltney, president and CEO of the North Carolina Bankers Association. “This is something that subsided years ago and has come back dramatically in the last few years, so it’s a big issue that the entire industry is grappling with.”

Gwaltney said the number of checks issued has declined significantly over the years: from 50 billion in 1995 to 11 billion last year.

He said checks now account for only 9% of the way people pay for things. If left unused, they account for 66% of all scams.

“We would like to see customers use automated bill payments, mobile payments and electronic payments to avoid this risk,” Gwaltney said.

The postal inspector told Eyewitness News they are conducting an investigation and working with local law enforcement.

“It gave me food for thought about what I wrote in the post,” Jim said. “Unfortunately, the bad guys are out there looking for an opportunity.”

The Bankers Association recommends that when you mail a check, you go to the post office and put it in a slot. The association is also urging anyone who has experienced this to call their bank immediately.

Wells Fargo was able to get the money back to Jim, although in some cases consumers also have to pay the price.