CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia’s mail frenzy continues as another local business comes forward to 8News with mail issues, this time saying contractor checks are arriving in the wrong mailbox.
8News reported Thursday that American Door & Glass in Henrico County had received a check from a customer.
William Pangburn has run Savoy Properties, a general contracting company in Chesterfield County, for 22 years and said he’s never experienced a problem like this before.
Pangburn said the checks he sent out never made it to their final destinations: Like American Door & Glass, his mail goes through a USPS distribution center in Sandston.
“It’s a huge amount of time spent every day,” Pangburn said.
And time is money. Pangburn said he got a call from one of the contractors four weeks ago.
“They said, ‘Bill, we’ve never gotten a check from you, and you’ve always been well paid,'” Pangburn said of the call.
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Pangburn checked the account, and sure enough, the check ended up in an unknown account in Cleveland, Ohio. Then another check ended up in Springfield, Texas, also in an unknown account. Just last Friday, the same thing happened twice more, both times ending up in North Carolina.
Pangburn said he was lucky to deposit three checks worth tens of thousands of dollars electronically, but the bank got the money back, and he said he could have easily lost more than $32,000.
Pangburn first called the FBI, who referred him to the Secret Service, who referred him to the USPS Inspection Service, who then contacted authorities in Powhatan and Chesterfield, where he filed reports. According to Pangburn, the bank obtained copies of all the checks and reported that they had been laundered; the scammers had changed the names in the “pay to” field.
Now, Pangburn pays $25 a month, with the bank sending him a list of checks he must approve each day before they are approved.
“Every time I turn around it feels like someone’s in my pocket,” he said.
USPS did not respond to 8News’ request for comment. When asked about American Door and Glass last week, the company said it could not confirm or deny whether an investigation was ongoing at its Sandston branch.
Pangburn said his company might adopt electronic payments, but he doesn’t trust them, which is why he still uses a flip phone.
It’s worth noting that it’s a federal crime to open someone else’s mail, no matter what’s in the envelope.
Are you experiencing any of these postal issues? Send your news tips about USPS-related struggles to 8News reporter Allison Williams at awilliams@wric.com.
