Flatbush woman warns neighbors after rent checks stolen from mailboxes twice
Kelli Daley says the first theft happened in July, after she dropped her rent check into a street mailbox on Albemarle Road.
More Stories
A Flatbush woman says she might be out $2,417 for the second time this year after her rent checks were stolen and digitally altered.
Kelli Daley says the first theft happened in July, after she dropped her rent check into a street mailbox on Albemarle Road.
“I looked at the check in the Chase account, and I saw that it went to some completely different person.”
Daley says her bank sent her a digital copy of the check, which showed the payee's name had been changed and that it was deposited electronically into a BMO Bank account. She eventually got her money back but says it took six weeks.
After that experience, Daley says she tried to be more careful and mailed her December rent check from the post office on Church Avenue instead. On Thursday, she says she learned that check had also been intercepted and altered.
“I’m like, oh, you know, I said a big swear word. I was like I can’t believe this happened again.”
Daley says she has filed a complaint with the U.S. Postal Service and plans to file a report with the NYPD.
“I think targeting working class people’s rent checks is a pretty low form of, you know good people don’t do stuff like that," Daley said.
Daley says her landlord charges a fee to pay rent online, but after being targeted twice, she says she’ll pay the extra cost to avoid mailing checks.
USPS said it is investigating but right now, it doesn't know how the thieves got the mail. They said there have been some postal carrier robberies where their keys are stolen or in some cases, they use tools to fish through the mail slot.
