(WXYZ) — The Grosse Pointe Farms Police, Trenton Police, and the U.S. Postal Service want people to be on alert before sending checks or money through the mail.
This comes after 29-year-old Denzel Lewis allegedly used the dark web to purchase checks that had been stolen out of the mail, duplicated them, and then sold them to the highest bidder online.
This scam can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time and it happened to a woman who we will not name from Grosse Pointe Farms and another person in Trenton. The man who police say is responsible is also from metro Detroit.
The Grosse Pointe Farms victim says she was out nearly $17,000 after mailing a check to a Detroit-based plumbing and heating company for a new generator.
"It's been going on all over the area. Someone has been getting into mailboxes. Whether they work for the post office or they're just hitting mailboxes. Or the mailbox at the business stealing the checks from within,' Grosse Pointe Farms Police detective Roger Wierszewski said.
Then police say they make a copy of the check and upload them to the internet and people then buy them on the dark web.
Grosse Pointe Farms Police say that's what 29-year-old Denzel Lewis of Detroit did to the woman in Grosse Pointe Farms and the person in Trenton.
"From what I understand it's out of luck and just happened to stumble across the proper website that provided him with the information," Wierszewski said.
Grosse Pointe Farms Police charged him with forgery. He's also facing other charges in Trenton. The woman from Grosse Pointe Farms is still out of $17,000.
In February, the financial crimes enforcement network and the postal service issued a warning to banks to be on alert for mail-related check fraud.
The postal service says to avoid putting mail in blue mailboxes on Sundays and holidays. They add if you are sending a check by mail, to take it inside and hand it directly to a postal worker.
