ITHACA, N.Y. (WHCU) – The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office is alerting residents to recent reports of check fraud in the area.

Officials say checks are being stolen from mailboxes, particularly ones with their flags up, indicating outgoing mail. The perpetrators have been performing “Check Washing” with the stolen checks. The technique refers to washing parts of the check with a widely available over-the-counter chemical, leaving the signature of the check writer, and rewriting a new name and amount.

The Sheriff’s Office recommends dropping outgoing checks off directly at a post office and using fraud prevention pens. This style of pen is designed with ink that absorbs into the check rather than rolling ink on top of it. They also recommend making your letters bold and blocky and using the majority of the space on the designated line when writing your checks.