Was my address(delivery) used for fraud? Im not sure yet. And fraud after a mugging

newsafes

1) A few weeks ago a friend who I hadn't seen in a very long time told me that he was at work all day and that 3 packages were going to arrive for me over the course of 2 days that he wanted me to sign for, and thus put my address down as the delivery address.

I noticed when the packages came there was a name which wasn't his on 2 of them. The same name actually. And on the 3rd was a different name. None of the names were his. And they were all addressed to my Dad. He knows my Dad's name coz I gave it to him and told him to send it under his name coz he is the houseowner.

Anyway...I gave him the packages and didn't think much of it. But after thinking about it some more I thought it was really strange how there were 2 different names used on the 3 packages. I also hadn't seen him in ages, and it was weird that he asked me.

DOes this look like fraud to anybody? I was speaking about it with a few friends recently and they think it might have been. I tried ringing the guy who asked me to sign for the packages, but his phone is off.

What happens if it is fraud? Are the police going to come knocking on my door? what about the companies that he ordered the goods from? Are they going to start knocking on my door? What happens if they do? I dont really wanna snitch on a mate but maybe I have to? Will the police arrest me, thinking I was the one who did the fraud? If it is fraud that is.... Are they going to just assume I was behind the fraud and I sold on the packages or something?


2) I got mugged 2 days ago for my phone and my card. I noticed there was 10pounds used on my card when I checked online banking. God only knows what they are doing with my crappy o2 payg phone. I only just reported the card stolen today though. Will I get compensated for the 10pound fraud?

bengalknights

It sounds like you may have been the victim of credit card fraud where your mate has stolen someones credit card and used it to order goods under your address so that when found out it cant be traced to him.

In the event of this happening generally the victim would contact the police and depending on value they would chase it up with the relevant companys and may then decide to contact you.

newsafes

Thanks for the quick reply. Would I get in trouble if I just told them what my friend asked me to do? Can they just assume that I was the one who did it? I HOPE NOT!!

If police came to my place and I told them this, would I be out of trouble?

dmg24

Why would you accept packages for a friend that you have not seen in a long time? Something doesn't add up here ...

newsafes

why not? by long time i mean 2months. not really that long. and ive been at home from uni for a month.

newsafes

i didn't really realise the risk of being used for fraud until i spoke about it with some freinds. if only i had done that before i would have been more clued up about what is possible

Esoog

edit; wrong topic......

bengalknights

newsafes wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply. Would I get in trouble if I just told them what my friend asked me to do? Can they just assume that I was the one who did it? I HOPE NOT!!

If police came to my place and I told them this, would I be out of trouble?

As long as you cooperate and they can validate your story and catch up with your friend then it would probably just be a caution for handling stolen goods or something but there could also be a chance that its a small amount and the police arent bothered so you never hear anything about it if it is fraud although if its somewhere like amazon where the fraud was commited on and you go to orders something you might find that you cant actually place orders or it logs you out/emptys basked as soon as it sees your address due there anti fraud detection system.

newsafes

how do i validate my story? he asked me over the phone. i haven't received any txt msgs from him or anything. now i cant get in touch with him his phone is off. this is starting to worry about me. i hope it wasn't fraud.

im guessing both of the other products were ipads since he opened one up and it was an ipad. thats gotta be about 500? the other package looked very similar in size so im guessing that was an ipad aswell.

whats going to happen to me if this is fraud? is me telling them what happened good enough to not get in trouble? I'm sure other people must have been used for fraud like this too...without knowing the risks of accepting packages for other people. do they all get arrested for fraud?! seems crazy if thats the case...

i will hopefully be able to get in touch with him in birmingham. but what happens if he just denies the whole thing? then what?

newsafes

out of curiosity...do the companies get compensated if its fraud? what about the consumers? im not sure if you saw the second story of mine in 2). But i was mugged for my phone and card and 10pounds was used for something, i just know from the availible balance...it hasnt shown up what it is yet...but i know its definately not mine. hopefully i get compensated easily.

do the banks normally just absorb the loss for this type of stuff normally? i remember reading an article last year that apparently people are told to contact the banks over fraud and not the police? do the police normally get involved in stuff which is about a thousand pounds im guessing of deliveries?

newsafes

the guy is pretty cool though. i highly doubt its fraud to be honest.. but im just curious what would happen if it was and i cant really validate my story beyond "a friend told me to sign for it and hes gone now with the packages"