Here is an example of what can go wrong, according to the United States Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General (tinyurl.com/3sjwtaxp). IRS refund checks topping a total of more than $500,000 went missing from a New Jersey township postal route. An investigation found that a postal carrier failed to deliver 15 refund checks. The carrier admitted that “he’d been approached multiple times and offered cash to take IRS refund checks from the mail.”

The investigation eventually uncovered “an elaborate scheme involving multiple suspects (not USPS employees) who, using different delivery routes in the region and a network of co-conspirators, defrauded the U.S. Treasury of more than $10 million.”

To avoid being scammed, consider the following advice from the IRS (tinyurl.com/38shctd8): When you file your tax return (whether by paper or electronically) you can choose direct deposit for refund checks, and the “fastest way for taxpayers to get their refund is to file electronically and choose direct deposit.”

This is pretty easy: Since direct deposit avoids a paper check being mailed to you, “there’s no risk of having a paper check stolen or lost in the mail.”

If you do file a paper return and request direct deposit of your refund, the IRS points out that “it will take longer to process the return and get a refund.” That may be a reasonable price to pay for added security.

What happens if you lose your check or believe it’s been stolen? You can use the IRS tool Where’s My Refund? (tinyurl.com/2p8fh8sr), call 800-829-1954 and use the IRS automated system, or speak with an IRS agent by calling 800-829-1040. The automated system is not available if you sent a “married filing jointly” return. Instead, you can download Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund (tinyurl.com/2ddtb95z), and fill that out to get the process started.

There are two ways the IRS will process your lost refund request (tinyurl.com/356k78sf). If the check was not cashed, you will “receive a replacement check once the original check is canceled.” If the check was cashed, you will receive a claim package from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (tinyurl.com/8wck65yw). Included in the package will be a copy of the cashed check. Once you complete the claim package, the bureau will review it. The review “can take up to six weeks to complete.”

If your identification is stolen, resulting in someone else filing a fraudulent tax return using your Social Security number, you’ll want to request an Identity Protection PIN from the IRS (tinyurl.com/y64bwet3). According to the IRS, “If a taxpayer hasn’t heard from the IRS but suspects tax-related identity theft, they should complete and submit a Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit” (tinyurl.com/4fms576h).

Among the possible indications that your identity has been stolen:

You can’t e-file a tax return because another tax return was filed using your Social Security number.

You receive a tax transcript in the mail that you did not request.

Your tax-preparation software company sends you a notice that your existing online account was accessed or disabled.

You were assigned an Employer Identification Number by the IRS, but you did not request or apply for it.

Once you receive an Identity Protection PIN, you will be issued a new one every year for security purposes. “Once an individual is enrolled in the IP PIN program, there’s no way to opt-out,” according to the IRS.

If you want your refund check mailed to you, notwithstanding the potential for lost checks, you can sign up for the Postal Service’s Informed Delivery (tinyurl.com/4kb66rvn), which will let you see, via email, photos of your mail before it arrives in your mailbox. Or, you can purchase a device that alerts you to when someone opens your mailbox.

For everyone else, direct deposit is certainly worth considering.