Woman has identity stolen, bank account drained days before Christmas

MAUMEE, Ohio (WTVG/Gray News) - What should be a time of giving and yuletide cheer turned into a nightmare for a couple in Maumee, Ohio.

On Dec. 20, Carloe Wesolowski got a letter from her bank notifying her that a check she cashed bounced due to fraud. Only Wesolowski was not the one who cashed the check.

“That was the first I’d ever seen this check, when I got it in the mail,” she said.

Wesolowski said a woman stole her identity, cashed a check with Wesolowski’s bank, and then emptied thousands of dollars out of her account. And it was all caught on security footage.

“They have her on-camera, cashing this check, she also has a fake ID with my information on it but her picture and she took $5,000 out of our checking account,” Wesolowski said.

Wesolowski said her husband mailed a check using a drive-up mailbox earlier this month. That check was stolen and “washed,” or rewritten with new information.

That’s how Wesolowski believes the thief not only stole her check, but her identity, as all her information was on the check.

“Once they get your check, they’ve your name, they’ve got your address, and then they’ve got your checking account information on the bottom,” Wesolowski said. “And they can get so much more information on you.”

Wesolowski’s stepdaughter works at her bank, and after reviewing security footage and watching WTVG report on a serial identity thief, she told her stepmother that she believed it was the same woman who stole Wesolowski’s identity.

After filing a police report and talking with her bank, Wesolowski said she was able to get her money back in her account, but she said the ordeal was horrible.

“For the first few days, you feel very violated,” Wesolowski said.

She learned new tips to protect herself, including using a sharpie pen to write checks because they are harder to wash, handing a check to a postal worker inside the post office instead of using a drive-by box, and only putting your name on your checks, not your whole address.

Wesolowski said she wouldn’t wish this circumstance on anyone and said that she hopes other people can learn from this story.

Both she and her husband hope the thief will be caught.

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