CHICAGO (CBS) — 6/9/21 – A South Side packaging company thought the end of the pandemic would mean the end of an expensive mail scam with crooks tearing into envelopes with checks and then cashing them to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. Now the postal inspector is not offering updates to the scam that shows no signs of slowing down.

It has cost packaging company Combined Sales near Midway nearly $60,000 has they’ve seen checks just vanish.

CBS 2’s Chris Tye first reported on this in on Feb. 8 when the lost checks totaled $35,000. By Feb. 26 it had reached more than $41,000.

Four months later Ken Pecho with the company said it has lost around $53,000.

Thieves tear into check filled envelopes at some point in transit between customer and vendor. They take checks, sign them over to scribble names like Diana, Betty, Kevin, Tomala and Vise, and then cash them.

And the USPS Inspector General’s office is offering no signal on where the investigation stands four months in.

“Absolutely nothing,” Pecho said. Read more at CBS Chicago