Have you ever asked why the banks in Israel use private couriers and
not the Post Office? I used to think it was rather strange until
recently when I found out that a $300 insurance refund check that was
mailed from the States was cash by someone other than myself.
It is easy to point fingers and hard to prove it was the Post
Office. I was lucky the company that cashed my stolen check read my
posting on Janglo and refunded my money. Thank you goes out to
Jonathan Abeles of Cheerfully Changed.
I was surprised with the number of individuals and non-profits who
responded to my Yahoo postings. We can't fix the problem because it
is too big for us to find the source; however, we can be proactive.
What can we do to protect ourselves from stolen checks and parcels
that are mailed to Israel from the States?
1. Social security and IRS refunds– contact your US Senator,
representative, and US Embassy and request that checks BE mailed in
regular envelopes, not window envelopes. The return address should
be very simple. Of course, automatic deposit would avoid the problem.
2. Pension checks, bank checks, insurance checks, etc – Contact
the payer and request the checks are not sent in a window envelope
that shows a check is enclosed. Automatic deposit would avoid this
problem.
3. Family & friends who usually send birthday, anniversary,
graduation checks, etc – Tell them not to include checks inside cards
that have colorful envelopes.
4. Have mail and parcels sent insured, registered, etc.
5. Pay more money and use another method of sending mail, i.e.
UPS
In order to have the Israeli government listen to us, we need to
provide them with facts regarding this problem. The police department need facts. With your help, we will be able to provide them with what they need.
Andee Goldman
The above was posted by a community member. This information may not be updated or accurate.
