My in-laws told me of a scam involving the highway / bridge toll commission where they live. They do not have EZ Pass and pay cash where that option is still available (some places only use EZ Pass or license plate scanning at this point.). On four separate occasions they paid cash at the toll booth, and later got a notice and fine in the mail for not paying! Each time the fine was $50 plus the cost of the toll! It showed their car stopped at the toll booth, but claimed they went through without paying.
The first time it happened, they didn’t have any proof they paid the toll, so they just had to pay the fine. Since then, they’ve collected receipts for their cash transactions to keep as proof. They’ve gotten 3 more fines since the original, and have successfully fought all 3 with their receipts. My in laws believe that the toll collectors are pocketing the cash and claiming that cars did not pay the toll.
Then what’s the value of putting the stop payment on it? It seems like the theives could just wait six months to use the check.
(In other news, I checked my Schwab account today and they had graciously charged me a $25 overdraft fee due to the $20,000 payment which wasn’t honored. Of course when I called Schwab they immediately reversed that charge.)
A few years ago a major check-stealing ring was uncovered AT OUR POST OFFICE, a ring of actual postal employees. They focused on intercepting checks for real estate taxes, which were easily identifiable, and for lots of money.
As a result, many people had to pay interest and penalties for non-payment of their taxes. Since then, our town has made it easier to drop your check off right at town hall. Or you can pay online.
IOW, even the post office isn’t always safe. The good news is that the perps were arrested, charged, and convicted. And fired.
Well, in our state, very few of the blue mailboxes have been broken into. So far, I try to get it to post office but will sometimes deposit it in high traffic blue mailbox.
I do bill pay on line through my bank. Sometimes it cannot be processed through electronic bill pay- it has to be mailed from the bank- like with the local plumber, HOA, ,etc. Does anyone know if bill pay vs hand written check is harder to wash or steal?
Folks, guard your FB and other social media
PW carefully and do not give your phone number (follows by “what is the code they just sent you?”) to your trusted contacts who request it out of the blue - allegedly to add it as a secondary contact number for security purposes.
Also, there has been an uptick in LinkedIn connections requests from alleged CEOs of wealth management companies with profile pictures featuring very young looking Asian beauties with very expensive handbags.
Last couple of weeks I’ve gotten many emails, several a day, that say “You have just won a XXX”, from Kohls, Home Depot, etc. When I send them to the spam folder, almost all of them have URL’s ending in “.uk”, United Kingdom.
I was at Kroger today and I bought some flowers. The guy in the florist department was telling a co-worker that a woman came up to him and asked him to rent a car for her. She would give him cash to pay for it. Of course, he said no!! Can you imagine anyone falling for that? I never heard of anything so strange.
