Tompkins County Sheriff's Office warns of check fraud

TOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y. (WENY) -- Over the past month the Tompkins County Sheriff's Office says it has seen a marked rise in check fraud in the county and is warning residents in an effort to curb the increase. Police say a multitude of techniques are being used, from check washing and forgery. 

In a warning issued to the public on Facebook, the Sheriff's Office said check washing is, "when a stolen check is dipped into an over-the-counter chemical found in many stores to remove the desired ink from the checks. They often to not dip/remove the signature of the check writer and rewrite a new name and amount."

Criminals are also using number or letter changing, where $200 can become $2,000. 

To combat the increase in check fraud police have recommended a few precautions. Those include dropping off any outgoing checks to your local Post Office for delivery instead of using your mailbox, purchase a fraud prevention pen and when writing checks to use the majority of the space provided for the amount.