Reshipper Scam

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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:10 pm

I just stumbled on a reshipper scam, at first it looked just like your typical 419 scam (well reshipper is that) but then they suggested they can employee me to reship for them merchandise world wide (aka Africa).

The happened when my modality said I was desperate for money since I had lost my job (a stall for gathering the money together to give to them to "process" my investment in their company).

Now I am in a bit of a bind, I don't want to give them an address, because I know they'll ship stolen goods to that address and I don't want to take this bait to that level. Should I cut the line or is there a way to change this around?

Has anyone done a reshipper scam, and not had to give up your address? I feel bad because these stolen items should go back to their owner (since I almost fell to these same exact type of scam 2 - 3 years ago).

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2922

Fakey Fakey Details-many countries to choose.
http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/

edit to add- I believe the 'items' would be purchased using stolen cc details.

On the front side you could take a bank account for the original scam.

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:55 pm

@ Donato, that is where I am in my bind. I have already provided some details, but never an address. Hmm, I am tempted to have everything sent to a law enforcement, but then I would/could lose them.

I guess I could always go back to the original bait and tell them I am not interested in reshipping.

But again, it would be nice to see stolen merchandise go back to the vendor and the original person get credit. The problem with attempting to return it by receiving it at a dead drop is then YOU can get tied up with the crime. Explain that to the police. I SWEAR I was going to return this to the owners...yeah right.

Anyway, I may play with this one for a while before I decide what to do.

If you provide a fake address and it is non-deliverable it will be sent back to the sender right? So then in a way it will get back to the vendor? Right?

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2922

Having stuff sent to a LE address would i believe invoke the ITP rule-which i why we never give lads Cop Shop phone numbers etc.

Would the stolen merchandise actually go back-or would it end up in a lost property (@UPS etc) or evidence room till who knows when? afaik when you order something and ship it to another address the sender has to put in an address. The question is what address will the lad put in-my guess is that he doesn't have (or want to) put in the CC holders details in, as any returned item will alert them to their card being used. He's not gonna put in his own (why lead the law to your own door) so he'll either put a fakey in, or just put in yours (the one you give him)-which leads the law to you.

I'm guessing the vendor carries insurance for occurrences such as this and iirc card holders (in the US) are only liable for the first $50 if the card is lost and $0 if the card details are stolen.

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:09 pm

It should be shipped back to the vendor.

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:42 pm

Maybe I should explain what happened to me, to get a perspective on how this scam worked on me. I worked with the UPS Security Team when this occurred, but in the end when the law showed up at the reshipper it was just someone who was "working from home" without a clue that they were forwarding stolen merchandise overseas. And ironically, they were a victim too, to the tune of a $2k loss in shipping fees.

Basically, 2 years ago I was sitting at home when a UPS guy shows up with a camera from a large camera warehouse in NYC. I was stunned, because I never bought a $1k camera kit. I naturally called the warehouse and they said "no you bought it, we have your CC number, your address, and your CVN (Security Code) from my CC." Apparently I was skimmed by someone when I gave my credit card to a vendor somewhere.

The large camera store told me they would email me a call tag for me to put it on the camera and I should drop it off at UPS. AND THE BEST ADVICE the customer service representative told me was I was going to get scammed by the people who stole my CC number. And sure enough he was absolutely right. The next the UPS guy showed up to pick up my package, except...I never called them to pick it up. The UPS guy told me he had a call tag to send it to the return center, which I took. I looked at the call tag and it was a variation of the spelling on the name of the camera warehouse. I asked the UPS guy if I had given him the package what would he have done, and he told me he would have put the "new call tag" on the package basically redirecting it to Chicago (vice the call center in NY/NJ).

I went to the UPS the next day and the Head of Security there and I had a conversation about what to do. It was decided we would send "a package" to the person using the new call tag (and the camera went back to the warehouse return location). Chicago PD paid the person a visit at their home, and they were reshipping items to Nigeria for a company thinking they were sending merchandise to be repaired (talk about not so bright).

So in a nutshell, the scam worked like this:

1. Stolen merchandise is sent to YOU with your CC information (it shows up on your bill)
2. A UPS Call Tag is issued to reclaim the package from you, most people would hand the package to the UPS driver not realizing he slaps a new call tag on top of yours and it gets redirected to the reshipper
3. Reshipper repackages your merchandise and sends it on to another country.
4. You end up arguing with UPS and the Merchant on why your item never was received, and your credit card company may or may not help you out...The reason is because it was YOU who shipped it, even if to the wrong location...

I got lucky, the merchant warned me on what may happen...and sure enough it did.

So in this case of having items go back, if it is the same scam, they'd go back to the person who shipped it in the first place (the original victim). I don't know if they'd go back to store...unless it was a straight stolen merchandise scam shipped to the reshipper.

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:01 am

So the UPS guy was obviously a criminal also.

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:24 am

Actually no. I brought that up with their head of security and he explained that as far as UPS is concerned they didn't do anything wrong. They are technically right.

Anyone can send a call tag (UPS pickup that is prepaid) to a location. Naturally, if you didn't except one you'd look at the UPS guy like he was a nutter. But if you were, because you were shipping something back (like merchandise you didn't order) you probably wouldn't think much of it.

Where it goes pear shaped is that the victim (aka me) would probably hand over the package to the UPS guy not realizing he is there to pick up a package for a lad...it totally sucks, but it is a clever scam. UPS is not going to stop doing prepaid call tags, because at the end of the day, that was what was sending my package back to the return department in the first place.

Make sense?

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:01 am

I can see how that would work well for a lad. Evil or Very Mad

US_spook, if you want to be able to get the goods back to the right place, you'll need to involve either the couriers (as you did before) or the local LEO. Having the stuff sent to your local police without discussing it with them first is just going to cause them work and hassle. If neither will play ball, imho, you'll have to tell your lad you're not interested. Sad

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:16 pm

@Eight, I agree, in this case I am now on the East Coast and haven't spoke to the California UPS Head of Security in ages. It wouldn't be too hard to contact the UPS Security group here, but I probably need to communicate with the appropriate authorities to make sure I am not accidently implicated into this.

At the end of the day, I really want to help, but I don't see a way without getting involved and in my current situation, I can't really.

What frustrates me, is that while we "educated" the lady in Chicago who was reshipping to the lad. Once the lad realized that she had been compromised by the LE, I am sure he just worked with one of his other hundred re-shippers.

US Customs only looks at incoming imports, not really outgoing exports. So you would have to rely on Nigerian Customs, and we all know how that goes.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 28

I am an operator for the deaf, actually going on 4 years now. In fact, it is because of these Nigerian scams that bought me over to 419eater when I started employment.

These Nigerians use our service. We (Sprint) have a website, where you can place calls for the deaf. It is accessible to anyone. Nigerian receives a stolen credit card. Knowing some basic information, they will call the issuing bank and attempt to get account details. CitiBank is really easy, all you have to do is enter your account, and your zip code in automated system, and full details are given. Personally, I use Bank of America, and it is almost as easy! When a live rep is reached, the scammer, after getting the account info (some reps can be naive, as they sincerely thinking they are helping a deaf customer), will attempt to transfer all funds to a stolen account.

After balance is learned, the sammer will buy high ticket items and have it shipped to the cardholders address. They make sure they quickly obtain the tracking number, so they can immediately call UPS and have the package "rerouted". They will tell the rep that they recently moved and need to change the address and name. Scammer asks UPS to send a message to the local UPS. Thankfully 99% of the UPS reps are onto this. They will tell the scammer that a 1st attempt has to be made (if the package is refused, it gets shipped back to the company, and credit card should get refunded).

I had a UPS agent put us on hold for a while. She came back and said that there are multiple people at this address, and the package will be returned to the original sender. One UPS agent asked if I could give them the IP address, as they were tracking callers. I wasn't supposed to, but I obliged. Could have gotten into major trouble if a supervisor heard me. UPS agents have asked for the original zip code, etc. Stuff a scammer wouldn't know.

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 4:09 am

That is interesting! In this case though, my CVN on my credit card was stolen, and as far as I know the customer service reps don't have access to that kind of data. I am suspecting some place I made an online purchase or used my credit card for a restaurant got it skimmed.

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:19 pm

If you found the scam on a web site it should be reported to the hoster and registar for termination. While you are playing the baiting game, the same site is still recruiting mules.

BJT