The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said it received more than 15,000 reports from financial institutions on mail theft-related check fraud in the six months after it issued an alert on the issue last year.
Bank Reporting: FinCEN said:
It received 15,417 Bank Secrecy Act reports from 841 financial institutions on more than $688 million in reported suspicious activity in the six months after it issued its February 2023 alert.
Banks filed 13,618—or 88%—of the reports, while securities firms filed 885 and credit unions filed 882.
Small and midsized banks accounted for the majority of the reports from banks.
Key Outcomes: In its analysis of the BSA reports, FinCEN identified three primary outcomes after checks were stolen from the U.S. Mail:
44% were altered and then deposited.
26% were used as templates to create counterfeit checks.
20% were fraudulently signed and deposited.
Contact ICBA: ICBA continues to raise awareness of check fraud in the news media and encourages community bankers to share their experiences and input on the challenge of check fraud at [email protected].
Resources: For more information on check fraud, community bankers can:
