Another local resident warns against check washing scam

ROSSFORD, Ohio (WTVG) - It turns out check washing might be a bigger issue in this area than first thought.

13abc heard from yet another recent victim of this, but this time they still haven’t received the money back more than two weeks later.

Monday we shared the story of how a Toledo woman was impressed at how quickly her credit union digested what happened and got her the money back. In Rossford, the process is going much slower.

Joseph Kornasiewicz and his wife decided to pay a small $10 medical bill with a check.

“Probably the first check we’ve written in a month.”

Off it would go through the postal service, and they’d be all paid up, but several days after it should have arrived, the family found a major issue when checking the family finances.

“We look online and see if everything is up to date. All of the sudden I went ‘Hey I think we’re $10,000 short,” said Kornasiewicz.

That’s right the $10 check became a $9,666 check. And it wasn’t written to the lab, it was now made out to someone named “Miguel.” The check was washed, meaning someone erased the original information and added a new dollar amount and signature.

“I trust the Postal Service tremendously, but there’s a lot of bad guys out there nowadays, and you can’t even get even with them anymore,” said Kornasiewicz.

Somewhere between leaving Rossford through the post office and its final destination at a PO box in Atlanta someone else got ahold of the check.

The same experience happened to Flora Patten, who also sent a check through the mail. Patten luckily received her thousands of dollars back quickly.

However, Joseph is headed now to day 17 without his money. He’s reported this to everyone who needs to know. As he waits patiently but is becoming frustrated as he’s out nearly $10,000.

“I told the people at the bank I am not a “Karen” I am not going to stand in here and scream and make an idiot out of myself, but I’d like to see things like this taken care of quicker and faster,” said Kornasiewicz

If you’re in this situation, keep contacting your bank. Keep giving them all documentation and stay on them for a refund.

Paying bills online can help to avoid the check issue in the first place. But of course, even still, you run the risk of exposing bank and account information to people online.

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