Worst thieves ever?

[Burgertm]

So today I arrive home and there is a big package from Amazon there. This is nothing unusual. I have Prime and I admit there are times when a box arrives and I don't remember what I ordered. Anyway, I make sure it is addressed to me and open up the box. Inside is some Tenba Air Case for a Mac Pro (worth $439.95) and no packing slip.

Part of me considers whether I should just keep it since I figured Amazon sent it to me by mistake. I decide I can't do that and chat with them online. The rep asks me the tracking number and once provided tells me that it was intended to be shipped to me. I ask him if he can tell me who sent it and he says that the email account associated with the account that sent it has my name in it and was created on 2/1/16. I then ask if he can tell me some information about the credit card used to buy it. He gives me the last 4 digits of the card and tells me it is an Amex card. Sure enough, I go look at my Amex Plat card online and it has a charge for $439.95.

The Amazon rep tries to issue a return label for me, but I can't access it because my real account isn't associated to the purchase and only the purchaser can access it. Apparently now I have to wait for someone from their fraud department to contact me so I can get it resolved with Amazon. In the mean time, I called Amex and told them about the story and they cancelled that card and will overnight a new one, however, they also sent me to the fraud department and wanted to file a dispute on the charge. I'm not sure how all that will shake out once I return the item and get refunded for it.

Here's the real question though...if you are a thief and have my CC info, know my address, etc. and go through all the trouble to make it look like it is me buying the item, why would you have it shipped to me and not to somewhere you can get the item???

It's all very strange and I'm glad that my morals prevailed and told me to contact Amazon instead of just keeping it and probably not noticing it until my Amex statement hit. Who knows how many other charges might have been on there by then.

 

[Someone]

They do that to see if they have the right address for AVS. Extra stupid since everyone knows Amazon doesn't check. They hope you'll be greedy and not investigate before they can ring up a bunch more charges.

Glad to hear you got it taken care of pretty easily.

 

[thehustla]

Or maybe they were going to steal the package at your residence and just got there in time?

 

[kingabraham3]

Or maybe they were going to steal the package at your residence and just got there in time?

this is kinda what i was wondering. it would be even dumber if they shipped it to their own home because, well, duh. but i would think shipping to some random person in your neighborhood would be the smartest option.

 

[GettingReady]

Reminds me of the time our son ordered a handgun and it was shipped to our house versus being delivered to a licensed dealer. Oops. Being military he did contact the company involved.

 

[oopl]

Lol, glad you caught the charge though.

 

[Suze]

Or maybe they were going to steal the package at your residence and just got there in time?

This was my thought too. I know they watch my daughter's place in NYC or follow the trucks. Several packages have gone missing from her porch. No longer have packages shipped to her residence, only use her work address now.

 

[c2nah777]

Hope authorities trace the identity thief. My guess is thief wasn't dedicated enough, and missed their chance to intercept.
For a $400+ item (maybe $300 for resale on Ebay/CL?), they should have been awaiting the drop off after tracking showed "Out for delivery".
I am convinced that was not just a test run. Glad that was the only bogus charge.

DW and I have both been victims of this kind of fraud/identity theft/CC theft several times in the last decade (who hasn't?). Never have they used our actual shipping info though.
We try to avoid letting our cards out of our site, and try not to use them where that happens - such as restaurants.

Still, internet sites get hacked constantly, which could have played some part in it. I always have a burning desire to work out how it happened to us when it strikes.

 

[rrgg]

Yes. They were planning to intercept the package. Something similar happened to me a few months ago.

 

[gary8669]

Or maybe they were going to steal the package at your residence and just got there in time?

Agree. They get the tracking information and know when it's been delivered, hoping to grab it before you get home and find it. Had it happen to me.

 

[Better_by_Design]

Here's the real question though...if you are a thief and have my CC info, know my address, etc. and go through all the trouble to make it look like it is me buying the item, why would you have it shipped to me and not to somewhere you can get the item???

It's all very strange and I'm glad that my morals prevailed and told me to contact Amazon instead of just keeping it and probably not noticing it until my Amex statement hit. Who knows how many other charges might have been on there by then.

So something similar happened to me recently - we aren't thinking far enough ahead - check out what happened to me:

1. Similar to BurgerTM, I got an Amazon package I didn't order
2. Contact customer service, learn email was obviously fraudulent/fake/not my Amazon account
3. Arrange for return & return goods to Amazon
4. Contact AMEX, cancel/replace card, report fraud
5. Unsettled, but hey, AMEX and Amazon's problem, not mine right?
6. Think to monitor credit report, worry some, etc.
7. Change a bunch of passwords to some crazy stuff
8. Move on with life, monitoring & spending FF points, kid, actual job, etc.
9. Wonder why my fraud charges on AMEX no longer "in dispute"
10. Contact Amazon
11. Amazon tells me they processed my refund... to a gift card, ending AMEX dispute... errr.. nope!
12. Gift card refund was attached to fraudulent email account
13. The buyer "faux me", used gift card balance to order a bunch of electronics
14. "Have I been to Delaware lately? They were delivered to a hotel there" ... ummm, nope!
15. Tell Amazon over course of several phone calls that they got scammed (interesting process)
16. Amazon refuses to refund me again (obviously) and tells me to go talk to AMEX
17. Back to AMEX, renewed fraud complaint being reviewed for 6 weeks now

Anyone having fun yet????

So basically someone:

1. Stole my AMEX info
2. Tested it with micropayments to ensure it worked (saw this later with AMEX service rep, they were charged and reversed)
3. Ordered a single, expensive item to my home (address matches AMEX address on file, reduces chance of alarm bells)
4. Assumed (rightly) I would return the goods
5. Probably monitored the return status
6. Had the refund redirected to a gift card
7. Used gift card to purchase resellable items
8. Had those delivered to a non-home address
9. Resold those items for $$$
10. Rinse, repeat

I have to admit that I'm impressed on a number of levels the work inherent here to defraud AMEX and Amazon, and take advantage of a system with multiple holes needed for customer service and ease of spending.

It seems HIGHLY possible to scale (if you have enough stolen CC#s) and ends up with goods that are probably impossible to track. As long as you're hiding your digital trail *enough* through the fake email addresses/chat/phone calls to Amazon, and moving the physical delivery address around, this is going to be a huge pain to catch.

So, fun story, right???

 

[c2nah777]

So something similar happened to me recently - we aren't thinking far enough ahead - check out what happened to me:

1. Similar to BurgerTM, I got an Amazon package I didn't order
2. Contact customer service, learn email was obviously fraudulent/fake/not my Amazon account
3. Arrange for return & return goods to Amazon
4. Contact AMEX, cancel/replace card, report fraud
5. Unsettled, but hey, AMEX and Amazon's problem, not mine right?
6. Think to monitor credit report, worry some, etc.
7. Change a bunch of passwords to some crazy stuff
8. Move on with life, monitoring & spending FF points, kid, actual job, etc.
9. Wonder why my fraud charges on AMEX no longer "in dispute"
10. Contact Amazon
11. Amazon tells me they processed my refund... to a gift card, ending AMEX dispute... errr.. nope!
12. Gift card refund was attached to fraudulent email account
13. The buyer "faux me", used gift card balance to order a bunch of electronics
14. "Have I been to Delaware lately? They were delivered to a hotel there" ... ummm, nope!
15. Tell Amazon over course of several phone calls that they got scammed (interesting process)
16. Amazon refuses to refund me again (obviously) and tells me to go talk to AMEX
17. Back to AMEX, renewed fraud complaint being reviewed for 6 weeks now

Anyone having fun yet????

So basically someone:

1. Stole my AMEX info
2. Tested it with micropayments to ensure it worked (saw this later with AMEX service rep, they were charged and reversed)
3. Ordered a single, expensive item to my home (address matches AMEX address on file, reduces chance of alarm bells)
4. Assumed (rightly) I would return the goods
5. Probably monitored the return status
6. Had the refund redirected to a gift card
7. Used gift card to purchase resellable items
8. Had those delivered to a non-home address
9. Resold those items for $$$
10. Rinse, repeat

I have to admit that I'm impressed on a number of levels the work inherent here to defraud AMEX and Amazon, and take advantage of a system with multiple holes needed for customer service and ease of spending.

It seems HIGHLY possible to scale (if you have enough stolen CC#s) and ends up with goods that are probably impossible to track. As long as you're hiding your digital trail *enough* through the fake email addresses/chat/phone calls to Amazon, and moving the physical delivery address around, this is going to be a huge pain to catch.

So, fun story, right???

Sorry for your situation, but thank you so much for the detailed info. I am sure @Burgertm (and all of us for that matter) need to know this, and alert Amazon before the thief's Plan B happens that way. If happens to me, I will contact AMZ before returning and get notes made to the fake acct to hopefully avoid this outcome. Even though I am confident the consumer won't be held liable, it still bites us all in the long run.

So even if they don't steal the merch from the victim's porch, they have plan B, and maybe more plans up their sleeves! The secondary address must be another close to home fake, so if plan A is thwarted, use plan B and be more vigilant, since after strike 2 they (hopefully) would be unable to persuade AMZ into another chance, so long as the consumer has alerted AMZ. They probably shop for stolen card info based on victim's location to begin this. I know nothing of the "dark net" (if that's what they call it) where this stuff gets bought/sold with Bitcoin or other untraceable instruments.

I mean it takes a lot of balls, but has good odds for either of the two plans to work. If they got the pkg with plan A, I would not be aware until the statement broke, if at all, since AMZ is such a common source for our household.

 

[Burgertm]

Interestingly enough, one of my wife's friends posted something on Facebook on Sunday saying she got a $400 gold watch from Amazon that she didn't order. Contacted Amazon and it was the same situation as I had where there was a new account, etc. They couldn't produce a return label because it was "purchased" from the fake account (seems pretty stupid). Again it was AMEX that was used in that scenario (seems as though we all used AMEX...hmmm). She was going through the dispute process with AMEX as well.

At this point with my situation, AMEX has already refunded the charge on my account, and Amazon hasn't contacted me (despite me chatting with them twice to tell them the situation) to tell me what to do with this item. I wonder how long I wait before I finally give up on Amazon and just sell the dumb thing on eBay or FBA and come out ahead.

Point of the story. If you get a package you didn't expect from Amazon, start checking your Amex cards for fraudulent purchases.

 

[Better_by_Design]

I mean it takes a lot of balls, but has good odds for either of the two plans to work. If they got the pkg with plan A, I would not be aware until the statement broke, if at all, since AMZ is such a common source for our household.

My only caveat to you is that my location is NOWHERE near where they ended up getting the goods eventually sent... in this case at least, they were not hoping to be "porch pirates" although that is a whole problem in itself.

In this scenario, they can get CC#s from anywhere in the US, and be in one completely different area, no need to mess their hands running around stealing stuff off porches and driveways, just stop into a hotel and get big batches of boxes all at once.

As I mentioned, I was fairly impressed by the amount of work/planning happening here.

 

[Better_by_Design]

At this point with my situation, AMEX has already refunded the charge on my account, and Amazon hasn't contacted me (despite me chatting with them twice to tell them the situation) to tell me what to do with this item. I wonder how long I wait before I finally give up on Amazon and just sell the dumb thing on eBay or FBA and come out ahead.

Point of the story. If you get a package you didn't expect from Amazon, start checking your Amex cards for fraudulent purchases.

Absolutely - my advice is go to AMEX first, get the charge cancelled (hopefully rapidly) and not bother with Amazon - the whole "fake account" mess is what has slowed down my fraud case handling on both the Amazon and AMEX side, and what allowed the crooks to enrich themselves.

In the end, it's AMEX's responsibility since it was their card - Amazon is another victim here, not dissimilar to walking into Walmart and buying an iPad with a stolen CC - except Amazon makes this all easier, more scaleable, and harder to get the bad guys.