{"id":128766,"date":"2026-01-23T04:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128766\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T04:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:49:12","slug":"tampa-woman-says-shes-out-thousands-of-dollars-after-check-stolen-from-usps-blue-mailbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128766\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa woman says she&#8217;s out thousands of dollars after check stolen from USPS blue mailbox"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/keh5v5j6pzentbjl.jpg\" alt=\"Investigation into check fraud\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/video\/fmc-lq5eesocvzfzpr5i\" data-v-4292be72=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Investigation into check fraud<\/a> <\/p>\n<p data-v-4292be72=\"\">A Tampa woman said a check she wrote out to her child&#8217;s school was stolen out of the mail, and someone used it to forge a check for thousands of dollars. She said it overdrafted her account, causing a major financial setback. FOX 13&#8217;s Danielle Zulkosky reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tampa<\/a> woman said a check she wrote out to her child&#8217;s school was stolen out of the mail, and someone used it to forge a check for thousands of dollars. She said it overdrafted her account, causing a major financial setback.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Abigail Reynolds said despite using a USPS blue mailbox near her home, her check was stolen and someone used it to commit check fraud. The check she wrote was for $1,000 to her child&#8217;s school, but she said someone stole that check and used it to write a check for $4,500.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">VIDEO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/video-convicted-felon-arrested-guns-drugs-stolen-cards-tampa-tesla-charging-station\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Convicted felon arrested with guns, drugs and stolen cards at Tampa Tesla charging station<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;I noticed a very sizable check written to a person&#8217;s name that I didn&#8217;t recognize,&#8221; Reynolds said.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Reynolds obtained a copy of the cashed check from her bank: USAA. The date was typed onto the check, her checks do not say memo at the bottom and the spacing was off.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;I realized was that it wasn&#8217;t actually one of our personal checks,&#8221; Reynolds said. &#8220;It almost looked like someone had maybe used scissors or some sort of an editing program to create a check.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/tow-truck-driver-accused-stealing-car-after-crash-i-275-fhp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tow truck driver accused of stealing car after crash on I-275: FHP<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Reynolds learned this check was cashed at Florida Central Credit Union, and it overdrafted her account, causing a major headache.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;I question why my check was able to be cashed at a bank when it is not even what our checks look like,&#8221; Reynolds said.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Dig deeper:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Reynolds did her own investigation and went to the credit union where the check was cashed and learned who did it, obtained a copy of the cashed check and brought all of this to police.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;It was very frustrating how I had so much information, and I felt like I had done all of the digging and I had all of the evidence to provide them, and I just couldn&#8217;t get anybody to listen to my story,&#8221; Reynolds said.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/check-fraud.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-v-0dea8073=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/jose-gasparilla-crew-prepares-ship-its-70th-invasion\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jose Gasparilla ship to embark on 70th invasion of Tampa Bay; \u2018Dorothy\u2019 the tugboat makes final voyage<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Reynolds said the Tampa Police Department would not let her file a report in-person without a fraud affidavit from her bank. USAA told Reynolds it does not provide those.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;Beg to file a police report and was told, &#8216;well, you know, we can&#8217;t really do it,'&#8221; Reynolds said. &#8220;You should probably just do it at home anyways. Very resistant to file it in person.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Police also told her she should file a complaint with the United States Postal Inspection Service.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;I was able to complete the postal service investigation,&#8221; Reynolds said. &#8220;And then I filed the police report online, it was incomplete. It wouldn&#8217;t upload my attachments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Why you should care:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">She learned she is not the only victim of mail theft at this location.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/tampa-road-resurfacing-projects-see-major-progress-across-multiple-neighborhoods\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa road resurfacing projects see major progress across multiple neighborhoods<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;The police doesn&#8217;t really seem concerned with this at all, and they were almost rude about it, but it&#8217;s so common that I think criminals are just not worried about getting caught,&#8221; Reynolds said.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Reynolds said she will continue to fight for justice for herself and for those that can not fight for themselves. So far, she has not gotten her money back.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The other side:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">TPD was unable to comment on this story at this time. The Postal Service and USAA Bank have also not yet responded to FOX 13&#8217;s requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Florida Central Credit Union started to look into this matter Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information in this story comes from interviews and reporting done by FOX 13&#8217;s Danielle Zulkosky.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Investigation into check fraud A Tampa woman said a check she wrote out to her child&#8217;s school was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,629,115,135,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-128766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}