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When Midge Laurin, of Chicago, Illinois, mailed out a $30 check, she had no idea it would be intercepted by a scammer and written out to someone else to the tune of $9,475. Check-washing scams like this are on the rise and can leave victims struggling to reclaim their lost funds for months. Here’s what you need to know about these scams and how to avoid them.

How the scams

Despite the increasing digitization of money management, there is still a place in the economy for paper checks – and along with them, check-washing scams. According to the National Check Fraud Center, check washing has an $815 million annual price tag to U.S. consumers. Unfortunately, instances of check washing often go unnoticed until it’s too late to