(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- People who send checks through the mail are being warned about a growing scam targeting their bank accounts.
Chicago police and federal agents say thieves are stealing checks from residential mailboxes, as well as outdoor Postal Service mailboxes.
Some of the thieves use the routing and account information from stolen checks to create and cash counterfeit ones.
Other thieves remove ink from the checks and alter them so they can be cashed, often for very large amounts.
Special Agent Siobhan Johnson of the FBI's field office in Chicago says there are there ways to reduce the risk. One is to use pens that make checks unalterable.
Johnson also recommends going into post offices to mail checks, rather than leaving them in home or outdoor mailboxes.
She says another option is to make payments online, rather than mailing checks.
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