I just received an envelope from FedEx yesterday right here in the County, so this is a timely warning. But others are receiving them and they're disguised as a scam.

The thieves are at it again, except this time it's dealing with electronics that people may be shipping back to the shipper via UPS or FedEx, that they never ordered, to begin with.

According to Cleveland.com, a fraudulent transaction recently took place to where a man knew that his wife's credit card had been used to make a laptop purchase. The reason he knew this was because her credit card carrier sent her an email notifying her of the purchase.

They contacted their bank and let them know that she never ordered the laptop and their bank immediately stopped payment on the purchase.

However, a few days later, the laptop showed up at their house from UPS. Thankfully, he was able to take the laptop to Best Buy himself, and return it.

What could have happened?

He was fortunate, in his case, however, many people are being scammed and this is how it is being done.

The day after the man returned the purchase to Best Buy, FedEx shows up with a shipping label and requests to get the laptop from the man so he could ship it back to Best Buy.

When the man looked up the address on the shipping label, it wasn't a Best Buy address at all. When he Googled the address, it was going to go to a small house in Pennsylvania somewhere.

Here's what the perps are doing.

The scammers are ordering expensive electronics, such as laptops and phones, on stolen financial information or credit cards. While the owner of the card is trying to work things out with their bank, that's when UPS or FedEx shows up with a return shipping label to retrieve the unwanted merchandise, in hopes that they will score a new item.

Note: UPS and FedEx are not involved with the scam, they are simply dropping off shipped items and picking up unwanted items as they normally do. They are not being accused of any crime. The criminals are using their services, unannounced to them.

The bottom line.

If you didn't order something that you have received in the mail, please do not ship it back without first verifying the address on the return label to ensure that it is going to the place you want it to.

Also, calling the place of business just to verify that the item is being shipped to them and verifying their address is not a bad idea either.

Don't get caught being the next victim of this horrendous and expensive scam.

 

 

 

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