RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Sherry, who does not want me to use her last name, says she can't believe thieves stole her check.
On March 18 around 5:30 p.m., Sherry says she went to the Riviera Beach Post Office on Blue Heron Boulevard to mail her AT&T bill for $132.
"I walked inside because it was after five o'clock with the blue box, they had already picked it up. I dropped the bills off in the slot," she said.
Two days later, she received a phone notification from her bank saying there were insufficient funds for the check. She was shocked to see the same check had an unknown name and a different dollar amount.
"I looked at my account and I saw that the check that I wrote for AT&T, which is check number 3073, was written out for $1,400."
Days later she heard from a friend.
"A friend of mine called me and it happened to her daughter. Her check was written for $1,500."
Sherry contacted Riviera Beach Police.
Spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown said, "We were made aware of another incident and that person after talking with us went directly to the postal service to make a report."
In December, the same thing happened at a post office in Vero Beach. Several checks were stolen from a blue mailbox outside. Those thieves haven't been caught and both cases serve as an important lesson.
"We just encourage them to be very vigilant. When they are depositing into the boxes take a look after you release it and make sure it is thoroughly in there and not stuck near the top or something like that," Brown added.
Sherry had her old bank accounts closed and new ones opened.
"It's an inconvenience for people that do work hard and have to go through all of this."
