USPS inspector investigating property tax mail fraud involving Spring Branch ISD resident

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The United States Postal Service said they are aware of mail fraud for school property taxes in the Spring Branch area.

The Spring Branch Independent School District's tax office confirmed to ABC13 that it has received concerns from people who've had their tax checks intercepted in the mail, the information changed, and that check fraudulently cashed.

One woman spoke with ABC13 on the condition of anonymity due to privacy and targeting concern, explaining how the thieves stole thousands of dollars.

"I just never thought it would happen to us," she said.

She said she knew they sent the checks for the taxes in the mail.

"We mailed the check out right before the deadline and we had gotten a notice from Spring Branch ISD that we were delinquent, but we thought something just got crossed," she said. "But then we realized when we got a second invoice this month that something was wrong and so we checked - the check had cleared, but when we inspected the check, that's when we found out that it wasn't made out to who we had made out to anymore, it wasn't made out to someone random person."

She shared the fraudulent check with ABC13, showing it was written out to someone else, and not the school district tax office.

"Unfortunately, this happens all the time in the Houston area," Houston Criminal defense attorney Jed Silverman said.

Silverman, who specializes in mail and wire fraud, explained that this is a local and federal crime he sees often.

"They can be sent to prison for, you know, quite a number of years. Mandatory prison sentences, you know, depending on the complexity of the of the criminal conspiracy, how many people are involved in it, what's the amount that's being stolen," said Silverman.

The woman ABC13 spoke with said she filed a police report and said now she's going to inspect her cashed checks more closely, but hopes the counterfeit criminals are caught.

"Clearly there's a bigger problem here - it's not just a 'onesie - twosies' type of situation, there's lots of families affected so this is really pretty serious theft, and I hope that someone gets to the bottom of it," she said.

Spring Branch ISD said in a statement to ABC13 that they are working with law enforcement to investigate the issue, stating in part:

We are working with federal authorities as investigations into this matter continue.

Taxpayers are welcome to make tax payments in person at the Spring Branch ISD Tax Office located at 8800 Westview Drive, 77055 during regular business hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Payments may also be made through the drop-slot in the Tax Office drive through at any time. Additionally, taxpayers may also pay online at https://sbisd.propertytaxpayments.net.

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