ALLEGHENY CO., Pa. — Seven people are wanted in connection with a massive identity fraud scheme in the North Hills, according to police.
In one case, police said the suspects stole checks from mailboxes and cashed in by making counterfeit checks. They weren’t going to legitimate post office boxes, but ones that we use every day at our homes and businesses, police said.
You can customize your WPXI News App to receive alerts for Allegheny County news. CLICK HERE to find out how.
Laura Glatz -- the owner of Backdoor Furnishings in Wexford -- always saw her mailbox as an easy way to do business, but in early January she found out somebody else saw her mailbox as a way to steal her identity.
“I did not know there were people stealing checks and making counterfeit checks,” Glatz said.
The day after she put her rent check in her business mailbox on Shenot Road, she found out three people had allegedly stolen it to make counterfeit checks.
Surveillance captured them cashing in $4,000 worth of counterfeit checks using the real account’s routing number at local banks.
Those three people were identified as Jvyonne Atkinson, Kenneth Williams and Juwan Matthews.
They, along with four more people -- including Miguel Brinson -- are accused of stealing outgoing mail from another unsuspecting victim’s mailbox on Shenot Road.
This time it was $10,000, police said.
The suspects are likely using a printer to remake the check and reproducing it with the victim’s name, investigators said, adding the only way to prevent this from happening is to use post office boxes.
This browser does not support the video element.