My IRS payment went missing, leading me down the rabbit hole of check washing and mail fraud

During the past year, bank failures have been headline news. But largely unnoticed is an epidemic of personal check fraud. I know because a PNC Bank check of mine for thousands of dollars payable to the Internal Revenue Service was stolen, washed with a common chemical (like nail polish remover), made payable to somebody else in the same amount and cashed. Thus, my new skill set: how a check gets washed and how to prevent it.