The Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD) is alerting residents and business owners to a serious financial scam involving IRS tax payment checks that are stolen from the mail and fraudulently altered. BHPD has identified multiple incidents affecting Beverly Hills residents and businesses, consistent with similar cases reported throughout the United States, in which large IRS tax payments, often ranging from $100,000 to $500,000, were mailed through the United States Postal Service (USPS) but never reached the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In these instances, the IRS payment checks were intercepted from the mail, altered, and deposited into the suspect’s bank account.
This crime is particularly devastating because victims, expecting a large withdrawal for legitimate tax purposes, often do not scrutinize their bank statements when the transaction occurs. Victims often do not discover the crime until several months later, when they receive notice from the IRS that their tax payment was never received. By that time, the altered check has already cleared, the funds have been withdrawn in cash, and the suspect account has been closed. Due to delays in discovery, bank surveillance footage and other investigative leads are often no longer available, making the prosecution of these crimes unlikely. It is vital to understand that once these funds are withdrawn, the loss is usually permanent. If you fall victim to this scam, law enforcement and financial institutions are typically unable to recover the stolen funds.
