FinCEN Analysis on Mail Theft-Related Check Fraud

Back in February 2023, FinCEN issued an Alert to bring awareness to an increase in mail theft-related check fraud. The Alert provided several red flag indicators as well as a request to include the key term “FIN-2023-MAILTHEFT” in any applicable SARs. Just recently, FinCEN released a Financial Trend Analysis (Analysis) on mail theft-related check fraud which encompasses the six month period following its 2023 Alert.

The Analysis points out that, during this time period, FinCEN received 15,417 reports of mail theft-related check fraud from 841 different financial institutions, with banks filing 88% of those reports. The resulting suspicious activity, including both actual and attempted transactions, exceeded $688 million. FinCEN discovered that, once checks were stolen by the perpetrators, there were three common outcomes. These include:

1. Altering a stolen check and then depositing it into an account (44%);
2. Creating a counterfeit check using information from a stolen check (26%); and,
3. Fraudulently signing a check and then depositing it into an account (20%).

We encourage you to give this Analysis a read and incorporate it into your BSA training. The biggest thing you can do to help prevent this type of activity is create awareness among your employees.

Published
2024/10/23