BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Gregory Rabb thought he was safe mailing his checks, but two weeks ago, he became the victim of a sophisticated fraud scheme that cost him nearly $10,000.

"You don't feel safe, you feel threatened," Rabb said.

Rabb was the victim of what's called check washing, where thieves steal checks from the mail, erase the payee and dollar amount, then change it to benefit themselves.

The nightmare began when Rabb received an unexpected call from KeyBank.

"I got a call on my phone, a voicemail from the bank, saying somebody's here with a check. Should we cash it?" Rabb told 7 News. "And before I could call up and say 'Don't,' they did it."

He immediately rushed to his bank branch to shut down his account, but it was too late.

"The damage had already been done with two che

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