2 women lose thousands after leaving checks in mailboxes
By Sharon Danquah
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — A mail issue cost two women in the Green Hills area thousands of dollars.
WSMV4 talked to two women, now on the edge, and told their neighbors to watch what they put in their mailbox.
It all started on June 14th when checks were placed inside a mailbox and the flag was up as a sign for pick up, but the issue was more than just mail carriers were on the lookout for the flags.
“One mail item is all it took for the chaos to start,” Elizabeth Hawkins said.
Hawkins said she hadn’t put her check in the mailbox to be picked up by a carrier, prior to the incident.
“I thought because I was home, I could do that,” Hawkins said.
Within a few hours, her check was picked up, but not by a mail carrier.
“Someone came and took out my outgoing mail and counterfeited the checks,” Hawkins said.
Three checks were counterfeited and taken to three different branches, but only one was cashed in. More than $2,000 was cashed out to the person and this didn’t just happen to Hawkins.
“They cashed three checks in a row,” Robin Rafftery said.
Rafftery also left a check in her mailbox that day, and before she knew it, she lost around $6,000. She saw Hawkins post online about what happened to her and they quickly realized they had something else in common.
“The same person did it to her as to me so we’re going to join those cases together and maybe the investigator can find this person,’ Rafferty said.
While the two women fight to track down the thief, they both said they don’t want this to happen to anyone else.
“I felt violated,” said Hawkins. “Just the fact that as a tax-paying citizen, I cannot put my outgoing mail into the mailbox. I just thought I don’t want anyone else to make the mistake I made.”
While the police continue their investigation, both Hawkins and Rafftery pray this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
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