Is it safe to mail a check? How to reduce the risk

How risky is it to mail a check today?

Most mailed checks arrive safely, but the risk rose sharply after 2020. FinCEN's February 2023 alert, issued with the Postal Inspection Service, described a nationwide surge in mail theft related check fraud. It cited 299,020 mail theft complaints to postal inspectors from March 2020 through February 2021, a 161 percent jump, and more than 680,000 bank reports of check fraud in 2022.

Thieves target mail in three places: residential mailboxes with the flag up, blue collection boxes, and occasionally mail in transit. Once they have a signed check, they wash and rewrite it or scan it to make counterfeits. The steps below close each of those gaps.

Where is the safest place to mail a check?

The Postal Inspection Service advises depositing outgoing mail in blue collection boxes before the last pickup or at your local post office, and never leaving mail in your mailbox overnight. For a business mailing vendor checks, a daily or weekly trip to the post office counter is a small cost against a washed check.

Timing also matters for incoming mail. Vendors sometimes mail refund checks to you, and customers mail payments. Collect mail promptly each day, ask the post office to hold mail when the office is closed for a holiday week, and consider a locking mailbox or a post office box if your office mailbox sits unattended by the street. A check stolen on the way in is just as useful to a thief as one stolen on the way out.

How should you prepare a check before you mail it?

• Write with pigmented gel ink, not an erasable or felt pen
• Fill in the payee and both amounts with no gaps, then draw a line through unused space
• Write the invoice or account number in the memo, not your own sensitive details
• Record the check number, payee and amount before sealing
• Use a security envelope with a tinted interior pattern that hides contents
• Seal fully and avoid envelopes with a clear window over the amount
• Add a return address so an undeliverable check comes back to you

Our guide to the best pen for writing checks explains why ink choice matters, and our overview of check security features covers the paper side.

Which envelope should you use for mailed checks?

For business checks, the right envelope depends on your check format. Laser checks with a voucher are designed to show the payee address and your return address through a double window envelope, so the address you print on the check is the address the carrier reads. Wallet size checks usually go into a standard business envelope with a folded invoice or remittance slip.

Test fit before you buy a large box. The free envelope fit tool lets you check whether a folded sheet or card fits a given envelope size, and our guide to double window envelopes for checks covers alignment for laser formats.

Should you use certified mail or tracking for checks?

For routine payments, tracking adds cost without much benefit, because the risk is theft and alteration, not loss. For large or time sensitive payments, such as a tax payment or a deposit on equipment, a tracked service with a delivery record gives you proof of when the check arrived. The Postal Inspection Service also suggests signature confirmation for important items.

Whatever method you choose, keep the tracking number with the check record. If a payee says the check never arrived, you can show where it went and decide quickly whether to stop payment.

What are safer alternatives to mailing a check?

Many payments do not need paper at all. Consider these options by situation:

Bank bill pay is worth a closer look: when a payee cannot receive electronic payments, some services print and mail a check on your behalf, which moves the risk rather than removing it. Ask your bank how each payee will be paid.

What should you do if a mailed check never arrives?

Give normal delivery time, then act. Check your account to see whether the check has cleared. If it has, pull the image and compare the payee and amount with your register. If it was altered, call your bank's fraud line, report the theft to the Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455, and follow the steps in our guide to lost or stolen checks.

If it has not cleared, place a stop payment on that check number before sending a replacement. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notes that banks usually charge a fee and that a written stop order generally lasts six months. Then reissue by ACH or a new check handed to a postal clerk.

How can business check stock reduce mail risk?

Good stock cannot stop theft, but it makes a stolen check harder to use. Chemically reactive paper shows stains after washing, and microprinting exposes scanned copies. When you reorder, confirm which features are on the stock and keep your number range continuous so positive pay can match every check. You can order business checks in wallet, laser or three to a page formats, then pair them with the right envelope before your next mailing day.