Scam at work

[bubba]

We got 3 phone calls from different people yesterday that received UPS envelopes with the return address as my company. The check inside was of course more than the goods they were buying, and the check had a different companies name. The delivery of the goods and extra money were to another address. 3 Different people were observant enough to look us up on the net and give us a call. So far, we have received a fax of a check and the ups label. The ups label has our name and address, and the phone number is from an old sub company we had, but has been dissolved for about 4 years. A quick google of the phone number showed the old company info still. I called the number, and some clown answered phone as "security".. When I told what was going on, The guy said there is many people working there.. When I asked what the business name was, the tune changed... now it wasn't a business and the guy hung up.

The check is drawn from a company in Jersey, with an office in London. Apparently, one of the people that called us wanted the package shipped to London.

Its a crazy world out there..

[bubba]

Wow... this is getting bigger quickly.. It appears, someone opened up a UPS account under our name. We just received a call from UPS this morning about an incorrect zip code. Whe the rep gave us the tracking #, it was from a different account. Looking further, the account is registered to us.   

[collecture]

Wow!
Get it straightened out NOW!
My brother had his SS# stolen many years ago - what a mess and hassle and pain in the *#%! 
Good Luck Bubba!

[Pat Pixley]

Boy this is soulding real bad Ken     Hope you guy can get it straightened out.
 people like that need to hung up by their thumbs.
   

Pat

[Yarochrehc]

Similar things have happened to me over the past six years or so.  like what has been told on TV and radio recently about mail fraud, I would either get a important looking letter in the mail or fax from someone in a foreign country, stating that they were looking for someone in this country to transfer large amounts of cash thru a US bank.

They were saying that the government in their country was becoming unstable and they wanted to get there money out of there.  Just like the check scam they said that if I would work with them I could receive a certain percentage of the millions that was to be transfered.

Also in the letter they said to not tell anyone about this transaction, it was just between them and myself. YA, RIGHT!

Well I turned the first of these letters over the the Post Office and they said that they would look into it and this is the last that I've heard of that.

I have received a few more letters and faxes just like this one over the past few years and have just put them in the shredder.

I guess some people will do anything to steal your money and ID.

[SIGNGUY]

Identity Theft is really starting to pick up... I don't think we've seen the real boom in it yet.. I know most of the insurance Carriers I write now are starting to include ID theft protection in their Homeowners policies... however the bad news is that it isn't really protection, it's just coverage to cover costs ONCE your ID is stolen.... There is that one company I know of so far called Life Lock, where they basically assign you a PIN number to us your SS #... so now, not only do we have to pay someone else more money to protect us, we have to memorize more numbers... where will all stop!!!

[collecture]

I have all my accounts set up in my accounting software and review transactions daily. I immediately know if somebody uses my card(s). I also get all receipts from when I charge something. Everything with anything goes in the shredder. I have been doing this for 8+ years.
I also check my credit history once a year!
So far it has worked!

[bubba]

UPS has confirmed that an account in our name was opened up on 10/31. There has been an undisclosed (as of now) amount of packages sent out from this account since then. UPS has acknowledged the problem, and has already closed the account. We just received another phone call from someone today regarding a package they received from us.

What is really surprising so far is that we have not received a phone call from the company who's name is on the check. I would have expected them to call us asking why we were shipping their checks..

My personal feeling is this shipping just started a few days ago and not much has been shipped. We received many phone calls between yesterday and today, but nothing mentioned before that.

We just tried to call the local police (We are in Newark, NJ), but they are unfortunately useless.

[BrianB]

Good to hear that things are getting worked out. Identity theft really does blow.

About a year ago I was touched by it. I was online checking my bank account and saw some transactions that I didn't recognize from a geographical location that I'd never visited in my life. I called my bank and they shut down my debit card, refunded my "lost" money and opened an investigation.

My debit card had been used in three different locations up in north eastern Indiana, a place that I'd never been before!! 

The worst part about it other than my account being compromised was that my debit card was still in my wallet and had never left it!! Apparently a store that I had visited in my hometown had "grabbed" (duplicated) my mag stripe info and made another card and used it.

I did some of my own investigating and called all three of the stores where "my card" had been used and they all confirmed that it was a teenager with a physical debit card who had swiped and signed 

So......be weary of letting a waiter or anybody else take your card away to swipe! In most cases where this occurs the worker swipes the card twice, once to ring up the real transaction and once through their own mag stripe reader to grab your info. I know that may seem a little paranoid but it happens!

[loman4ec]

The same thing happened to my Dad that happened to Brianb when we were in Thailand about two years ago. They swiped his card at a hotel (which was a really nice 5 star hotel) and the kid was able to copy the info. He managed to get about $5K worth of stuff before we caught it. They refunded the cash no problem. It is jsut the thought that it was that easy for someone to do. We contacted the hotel and they admitted that they had several complaints in the past few days but the person only worked there for a few days and quit. In Thailand it is hard to find anyone so I am sure he got away with it.