Unsolicited parcels - asking for a friend (honest!)

Spanishomelette

My friend has received 10 pairs of branded trainers and boots in four deliveries made over the past five days to the rented flat she has lived in for 18 months!  Most of them have been taken in by neighbours while my friend has been at work.  None of them have a delivery note with them.  The couriers say they have no details of who sent the the parcels.  According to the neighbours in the block, one of whom has lived there for many years, the addressee is not a previous occupant of the flat.  Even 192.com and good old Facebook don't have any record of this person! The estate agent who deals with letting the flat does not know the name of the parcel addressee. 

Various friends and colleague are coming up with scam and credit rating theories, which is beginning to freak my friend out!  Does anyone have any ideas on what might be happening here, please, and what to do?

Barny1979

So they have opened the parcels though they aren't in her name?

George_Michael

Barny1979 said:

So they have opened the parcels though they aren't in her name?

Why not?
There is nothing wrong with opening packages or letters delivered to your property even if addressed to another person provided that you have a reasonable reason for doing so and you aren't doing so with the intention of causing loss or harm to the addressee.
Opening to check for any paperwork is IMO, more than enough of a reason.

Spanishomelette

Yes, she did open them, as there was no return address on the outside of any of the boxes.  When she received the first one, she contacted her letting agent, who advised to return to sender.  Hence opening the box to see where it had come from.  There are bar codes on a couple of the labels, but nothing to indicate where the parcels are from.

LadyDee

I'm not too sure how this works, but I'm certain I've read somewhere on here, that this could be a scam.  Someone has ordered these goods on a stolen card, had them addressed to your address, will call and collect the parcels, then you'll be chased for payment by the sender when the card bounces.  I'm naturally a very suspicious (cautious) person and could well be mistaken, so although I wouldn't want to cause alarm, just act dumb if somebody calls to collect the parcels - at least until such time as those more knowledgable come up with an answer.

Spanishomelette

LadyDee said:

I'm not too sure how this works, but I'm certain I've read somewhere on here, that this could be a scam.  Someone has ordered these goods on a stolen card, had them addressed to your address, will call and collect the parcels, then you'll be chased for payment by the sender when the card bounces.  I'm naturally a very suspicious (cautious) person and could well be mistaken, so although I wouldn't want to cause alarm, just act dumb if somebody calls to collect the parcels - at least until such time as those more knowledgable come up with an answer.

I think I've read something similar locally about parcels from Amazon being delivered to an address with the wrong addressee name, and in that case it seems someone was going to collect the parcel, with the person it was delivered to being unaware they had been charged for it.  My friend is a very cautious person, like you, and has been checking her on-line banking and credit cards, and nothing has been charged to her, so it remains a mystery.  Someone has suggested that it could be to do with someone trying to build a credit score by ordering and paying for items, but my friend still can't work out why she seems to be in the middle of it!  And worst of all, she doesn't know what to do with all the trainers.  She says she's struggling for space in her small flat and would like to give the shoes to a local charity, but doesn't want someone turning up on the doorstep to collect them.

George_Michael

Spanishomelette said:

The couriers say they have no details of who sent the the parcels.

I don't believe that. They will have the details, it's just that they may well not be allowed to pass them on to your friend.
Without the details of the sender, who would they hold liable should it turn out to be something dangerous in any of the packages, something that ends up causing harm or damage?

ThumbRemote

George_Michael said:

Spanishomelette said:

The couriers say they have no details of who sent the the parcels.

I don't believe that. They will have the details, it's just that they may well not be allowed to pass them on to your friend.
Without the details of the sender, who would they hold liable should it turn out to be something dangerous in any of the packages, something that ends up causing harm or damage?

It may not be quite that easy for the courier. They don't take the address of customers, only email addresses. Combine that with payment via PayPal, and parcel drop-off at a parcel shop, and they could have no address at all. 

Yahoo_Mail

The scam may well be credit card fraud.  Someone has found a retailer that will deliver to an alternate address (perhaps as a gift.)

Someone will then turn up from "the courier" and say they were wrongly delivered and can we please have them back.  Et voila!

lammy82

If it's a 2D barcode (QR Code style) then try scanning it using a barcode reader app on your phone. There may be return address details encoded in it. (When I send packages with Hermes, my full return address is encoded into the 2D barcode despite not being printed on the label)

Housewife2020

Spanishomelette said:

LadyDee said:

I'm not too sure how this works, but I'm certain I've read somewhere on here, that this could be a scam.  Someone has ordered these goods on a stolen card, had them addressed to your address, will call and collect the parcels, then you'll be chased for payment by the sender when the card bounces.  I'm naturally a very suspicious (cautious) person and could well be mistaken, so although I wouldn't want to cause alarm, just act dumb if somebody calls to collect the parcels - at least until such time as those more knowledgable come up with an answer.

I think I've read something similar locally about parcels from Amazon being delivered to an address with the wrong addressee name, and in that case it seems someone was going to collect the parcel, with the person it was delivered to being unaware they had been charged for it.  My friend is a very cautious person, like you, and has been checking her on-line banking and credit cards, and nothing has been charged to her, so it remains a mystery.  Someone has suggested that it could be to do with someone trying to build a credit score by ordering and paying for items, but my friend still can't work out why she seems to be in the middle of it!  And worst of all, she doesn't know what to do with all the trainers.  She says she's struggling for space in her small flat and would like to give the shoes to a local charity, but doesn't want someone turning up on the doorstep to collect them.

Sound like friend is u