Jody and Paul Glaser of Los Altos did what millions of Americans still do every year: They wrote a property tax check and dropped it in a blue USPS mailbox outside the post office.
Three months later, Santa Clara County received a delinquency notice. Paul said he knew he had paid – he had seen it clear on the check. So they pulled up a picture of the check online and discovered that the name that was supposed to be that of the county tax collector was someone else’s.
“Apparently the check had been tampered with and cashed by someone else,” Paul told ABC7’s 7 On Your Side (1).
Criminals stole the checks from the mail, wiped the payee line with chemicals, wrote them with new names and then deposited them into a Bank of America ATM machine in Minnesota. Amount: Nearly $28,000. The Glazers still owe the county money, and with fines, their total loss is about $60,000.
They went to Wells Fargo hoping for a direct refund. Within 30 days, they received an automatic rejection. What’s the reason? They did not report the fraud within 30 days of receiving the bank statement.
San Jose homeowner Kathy Pham had a nearly identical experience — a $2,400 property tax check was stolen from the mail, altered and cashed by someone else, and then declined by the same bank with the same explanation.
This is what puts both families in trouble. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, each state’s framework that governs commercial transactions, customers must review their bank statements and report unauthorized transactions immediately, usually within 30 to 60 days. Wells Fargo’s 42-page deposit account agreement sets that period at 30 days.
Fraud cannot be detected by claims alone. “It just shows the date and the amount,” Jody Glaser said. “It doesn’t show who you wrote the check to. It doesn’t say who cashed the check. It just says ‘check.'”
The only way to capture it is to download the actual check image – something most people wouldn’t think of doing for every cleared transaction. Wells Fargo’s position is that customers should do this. The bank updated the account agreement last November to clarify this expectation, although the provision was not in place when the families filed their claims.
Under the UCC, an altered check is not “correctly payable” and liability generally falls on the bank that accepted the thief’s forged check (2). But if customers don’t report the problem within the statement window, the bank can pass the loss on to them — which is exactly what Wells Fargo did here.
This is not an isolated incident, nor is it the first time Wells Fargo has been at the center of controversial fraud claims. Moneywise previously reported that a 90-year-old man lost $814,000 of his life savings to fraud, which was also denied by Wells Fargo.
Check fraud related to mail theft has become one of the fastest growing financial crimes in the country. In 2024, USPS recorded more than 52,000 bulk mail theft attacks, a 156% increase since 2019 (3). According to FinCEN data analyzed by the Federal Reserve, check fraud still accounts for half of all fraud-related suspicious activity reports filed by banks – with the total number of fraud suspicious activity reports from financial institutions increasing by 110% between 2020 and 2024 (4). The FBI issued a public service announcement in January 2025 warning that the problem continues to accelerate (5). In 2024, postal inspectors reported 4,754 arrests and 4,228 convictions for mail theft, carrier robbery, and mail fraud (6).
The mailbox where the Glazers dropped off the check was later blocked and out of service. It now reads: “Please deliver mail inside the post office.” An audit by the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General found that the agency lacked accountability for its universal “arrow keys” (the master keys that open blue collection boxes), which are often targeted by postal carriers and used to steal mail (7).
Read more: The average American net worth is a surprising $620,654. But that makes almost no sense. Here are the numbers that matter (and how to make them soar)
After ABC7’s 7 On Your Side got involved, Wells Fargo refunded Pham’s $2,400. The bank did not explain why it granted her appeal, but continued to deny the Glazers’ $28,000 claim, citing privacy rules.
Wells Fargo said in a statement that it “sympathizes with[s] “Our priority is to support our customers and raise their awareness to avoid, detect and promptly report incidents.”
“Some random person stole this check, easily changed the name, and cashed it, and the bank said it’s our responsibility,” said Jody Glaser. “This could happen all the time. It’s a huge, huge, huge problem.”
1. Stop mailing large checks. If your county or mortgage company accepts electronic payments, use them. The convenience fee—if there is one—is cheap insurance against five-figure losses.
2. If you must mail a check, drop it in the post office. The blue collection box is the main target. The FBI recommends shipping as close to the published pickup time as possible.
3. Use gel or colorfast black ink. Standard ballpoint pen ink can be chemically washed away from checks. Gel pens are harder to change.
4. Review your check images every month—not just your statements. It’s a lesson the Glazers learned at great cost. Your statement will not show who cashed the check. Log into your bank’s online portal and pull up an image of each cleared check. If you become aware of fraud, report it immediately in writing to your bank, file it with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (uspis.gov) (8) and the FBI IC3 (ic3.gov), and file a report with the police. If your bank denies your claim, appeal – and don’t be afraid to contact your state attorney general’s office or consumer advocate. Fan was only given a refund after a TV news team intervened.
Join more than 200,000 readers and get first access to Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews – curated and delivered with clear insights every week. Subscribe now.
—
We rely only on vetted sources and reliable third-party reports. For more information, see our Editorial Ethics and Guidelines.
ABC7 / KGO San Francisco, 7 On Your Side (1); Uniform Commercial Code §§ 3-407, 4-401, 4-406 / ICBA Practical Guide (2); Federal Reserve Week/U.S. Postal Service Data (3); Federal Reserve, Consumer Compliance Outlook (4); FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (5); United States Postal Service Overview (6); United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (7); United States Postal Inspection Service (8)
This article provides information only and should not be considered advice. It is provided without any warranty of any kind.