An elderly San Francisco woman mailed checks to pay her bills; thieves altered them and took $14,000 from her bank account

• The case, reported by ABC7 News, showed a growing problem of mail theft and cheque washing across the Bay Area.
• Cheque washing is a type of fraud in which criminals use chemicals such as acetone or bleach to remove the name and amount written on a genuine cheque while leaving the original signature untouched.