what's this postal scam all about?

Jayne

Jayne

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Got a package in the mail today that I shouldn't have. The return address had a fake name with our address. The recipient address and name was real (or at least shows up as a legit name/address combo in google). The label was for a first class package, but it was in a priority mail envelope so someone (presumably at the post office) put a note on it saying that the envelope was for, well here:

1618884840664.png

The wife is going to take it to the post office and dump it back there, but I'm curious what this scam is. The postage was paid off a pitney bowes machine, seems like a dumb way to try to hide who's sending it if it's nefarious.
 
I got something similar a few weeks ago.
Plain large envelope adressed to me with neweggs street address as the return address.
No name no markings or anything else. No packing slip, no invoice, nothing. Just a cheap chinese hdmi cable.
I threw it in the dump (literally, i had to take the trash to the dump, and in it went)
Not sure whats going on but i don't want any part of it.
 
Maybe scam seller, they get something from the post office saying that it shipped, makes it harder for the victim to dispute receipt. They don’t care where it goes so random name and address for return. Express packaging is free so they save a few pennies.

I’d trash it unless it has an order number on the label in which case I might be tempted to figure out which platform to notify.

If you’re bored super sleuth a phone number and call the people that it was addressed to.
 
Oh no! You broke the chain!



Remember the mystery seeds?

There is definitely some strange shenanigans going on.

We've both received seeds and had some bizarre buy/shipping stuff happen.
 
Last edited:
Kspainhour said:
I got something similar a few weeks ago.
Plain large envelope adressed to me with neweggs street address as the return address.
No name no markings or anything else. No packing slip, no invoice, nothing. Just a cheap chinese hdmi cable.
Click to expand...

That's the 'brushing' scam, sellers buy stuff using someone else's address so they can have a 'verified purchase' and leave a fake (good) review for their product.
 
"The postage was paid off a pitney bowes machine,....."


Back in the late 1970's I worked for a guy who also had another job selling for Pitney Bowes. One of their postage meters found it's way to his house. He made sure come tax season every year he'd mail his return about 5 days late but it got an April 15 post date. His way of getting one over on "the man".

.
 
The wife insisted on taking back to the post office, so she made a hole in her work schedule and did. Explained to them what the deal was and they said "we can't do anything, call the fraud department". They did however take the package off her hands.

....and yesterday it showed up at the house again. They ignored all the stuff she wrote on there about the fake return address blah blah and just circled that "you can't use this envelope" thing and dutifully put it back in our mailbox.

Will she take it back in again? Or maybe just make it vanish in a boating accident? Naa... because that's a crime!
 
Ya'll don't remember the hubbub about the mystery seeds being mailed out last year? Same thing.
 
We got some cheap magnetic screen door once. As it turned out the credit card was actually hacked. They billed us for the crap. Since it wasn't much money most people would think the crazier spouse ordered the thing. Like all the $5 I tunes and small Amazon charges that make no sense. Pretty clever.
 
I'll post pictures of the little outboard deal I scored if it ever gets here. Super polished website worked like a dream. Paypal and everything. Bookmarked webpage opened a completely different site! Uh oh.... Looks like Japan is actually Singapore, oops - Thailand! Paypal does not understand fraud; only item incorrect, item not arrive. Idiots! Bank America refunded "temporarily" but Paypal is stalled out. Now Swipe is the best story. That's a credit card processor that lots of people use, my son for his coffee biz. It's aptly named! Crazy $1,000's order for expensive $60/lb coffee. Notifies them the orders are fishy. So they froze his account! He's out over $20,000.00 for the foreseeable future.
 
Relapse said:
We got some cheap magnetic screen door once. As it turned out the credit card was actually hacked. They billed us for the crap. Since it wasn't much money most people would think the crazier spouse ordered the thing. Like all the $5 I tunes and small Amazon charges that make no sense. Pretty clever.
Click to expand...

It is clever.

A few bucks here and there don't attract much attention. However, with the advent of computers and the internet, a few bucks over tens of thousands of accounts or more? Now we're talking real money for scammers, with much less of a chance of being prosecuted for it. Pursuit and prosecution would only be done if it can be tracked and proven to be widespread enough to amount to huge money.
 
I was notified with a text by my bank last week that 3 suspicious charges had been made to my debit card. Thinking scam if I replied to the text, I called the bank. Legit text. Has 3 charges that day to my card. 2 for less than $2.00 and 1 for around $10. All showed to a different place but in the same city in Florida. Talking to the fraud guy he told me scammers sometimes hit 10,000 or more accounts in a day usually for a couple of dollars hoping not to raise suspicion. That could add up to a big pay day if half get by. I probably wouldn’t notice a charge of $2 on my account
 
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