TOLEDO, Ohio — A local couple is out hundreds of dollars in a rash of mailbox thefts in Sylvania Township.
Thieves are getting into blue mailboxes in the area, taking checks and ripping people off.
"That's what I live off, my social security, they had cleaned it out," said Ronald Black.
Black and his wife, Linda, are missing nearly $1,000.
"They had cleaned my checking out," he said.
The couple made out a check to Paramount Health Care for $136 and dropped it in the blue mailbox at the post office at 5150 Monroe St. in Sylvania Township on Aug. 19, right before pickup time.
"It's written originally as $136," Linda Black said.
But that check didn't go to Paramount. And when it was cashed, the amount had been changed.
The check was clearly altered. The digits had been changed and the check was cashed for $936.
"Whoever cashed it the first time should have seen the name Paramount on it and being a business should have never cashed it with a personal signature on the back," Linda Black said.
She said they went to the post office and a worker told her someone broke into the mailboxes using keys stolen from postal workers. WTOL 11 confirmed that information with the United States Postal Service.
"I can confirm the Inspection Service has several active investigations into mail theft activity and robberies of postal letter carriers in the Toledo area," said postal inspector Ian Ortega, of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The couple called Sylvania Township police, which is investigating the theft from the Blacks' account along with another.
Sylvania Township Police Detective Jake Albright said 40 checks have been reported stolen since 2022, the majority of which have taken place since late 2022.
Another report from Sylvania Township states the employee of Tailored Insurance Solutions went to police on Sept. 6 to report two checks that she mailed on Aug. 18 at the post office on Bancroft Street had been removed from the mailbox.
The report states the checks were "washed" and the names on the back changed. The checks were cashed by a mobile deposit in the amounts of $2,100 and $2,800 at an unknown bank. The report also states that the employee said another check in the amount of $4,530.17 is counterfeit and was also a mobile deposit to a bank.
Postal service inspectors are working with police on the cases, Ortega said.
Albright said some of the checks were cashed locally, but for the most part, they're being cashed across the country and are almost always deposited on a mobile device.
He said the box the Blacks used at 5150 Monroe St., 6020 Bancroft St. and a box near Franklin Park Mall on Monroe Street and Talmadge Road have been hit most often.
"The US Postal Inspection Service is Aware of the recent trend in blue box thefts in Northern Ohio (to include the Toledo area) and is actively working several investigations with the assistance from our local law enforcement partners," Ortega said.
In the meantime, the Blacks have to make do until the bank can get their money back.
"They said it would be one week, two weeks, three weeks, four months, four months," Linda Black said.
The USPS said it's expanding its efforts to protect against fraud and theft, "including, but not limited to installing 12,000 high security blue collection boxes around the country, 49,000 electronic locks to replace traditional postal keys and sending national assets to high mail crime areas."
It also advises customers to drop mail inside post offices during regular business hours.
If anyone has information related to blue collection box thefts, or to report any issues, Ortega said they should contact the US Postal Inspection Service at 877-876-2455. Any information will be kept confidential.