Dozens of property tax checks mailed by Napa County residents were intercepted and fraudulently cashed as part of a check-washing scheme, ABC7 reported. Preliminary losses total in the millions of dollars, according to ABC7.
The Napa County Tax Collector’s Office urged residents to review their recent bank statements immediately.
How the scheme works
Check washing is a common mail fraud technique in California. Thieves pull envelopes from mailboxes, use chemicals to erase the original ink, then rewrite the checks to fictitious payees or inflate the amounts.
Property tax payments make an especially attractive target — the checks are typically written for large sums.
What to do
The county tax office advises residents to compare amounts debited from their bank accounts against their actual tax bills. Anyone whose check was cashed by the wrong payee or for the wrong amount should contact their bank and the Tax Collector’s Office immediately.
Officials also recommend avoiding blue street collection boxes. Safer alternatives include online payments, bank transfers, or dropping off payment in person at the tax office.
Investigation underway
An investigation is ongoing, according to ABC7. It remains unclear at what point the envelopes were intercepted — during collection, sorting, or delivery. Similar thefts have been reported in San Francisco, Oakland, and other Bay Area counties in recent years.
The U.S. Postal Service has repeatedly warned about rising attacks on street collection boxes. According to USPS and federal investigators, thieves have used master keys believed to be circulating on the black market following assaults on mail carriers.
What’s at stake for Bay Area homeowners
California’s first property tax installment deadline is Dec. 10. Thousands of homeowners across Napa, Sonoma, Marin, and neighboring counties are mailing checks in the coming weeks.
Victims of check washing can typically recover funds through their bank, but the process takes weeks. Under California tax law, a property tax payment is not considered received until the county has the actual funds — and late payments carry a 10% penalty, according to the tax code and the Tax Collector’s Office.
The Napa County Tax Collector recommends that anyone who has already mailed a check monitor their bank account online to confirm it clears to the correct payee. The second installment deadline is April 10, 2026.