Bowie Police and Montague County Sheriff investigators are looking into a series of “check washing” incidents where local residents lost money when their checks were stolen and revised.
Police Chief Guy Green explained check washing scams involve changing the payee names and often the dollar amounts on checks and fraudulently depositing them.
According to the U.S. Postal Inspector occasionally, these checks are stolen from mailboxes and washed in chemicals to remove the ink. Some scammers will even use copiers or scanners to print fake copies of a check. Postal Inspectors recover more than $1 billion in counterfeit checks and money orders every year.
Bowie police received three complaints during the past week, while the sheriff’s office has one case during the past week.

Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.