New Mobile Phone Scam (Delivery)

[Cleoriff]

There's a new scam doing the rounds (as if we haven't enough!)

A brand new top-of-the-range phone is delivered to your door. The package has your name on it but you don't remember ordering it.

There is another knock at the door and a courier asks for the phone back explaining: "We delivered it by mistake."

Would you hand it over? If you do, it could prove to be an expensive mistake.

It is a scam and yet another way that sophisticated thieves try to rip us off.

"Delivery scams are just one of the increasingly sophisticated methods fraudsters are using to leave victims out of pocket," warned Adam French, Which? consumer rights expert.

The scam involves crooks ordering and then attempting to intercept - or trick you into handing over - high-value packages.

It usually happens when criminals somehow manage to get hold of your personal details to place the order.

Read more here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49450485

[TallTrees]

Thank you @Cleoriff 

for posting this scam, it is well worth reading and I have informed

all my family to keep parcels (never hand them back)

work out details later

[Cleoriff]

It's horrific just how sophisticated these scams are nowadays @TallTrees 

[Mi-Amigo]

Dispicable scam!

And if anyone took in a parcel for a neighbour and it was collected by the scammer, they`d be dragged into this 

[jonsie]

I saw this on the news this morning and thanks for posting it on the community @Cleoriff 

[sheepdog]

If I recall, this has been mentioned in the past somewhere on this forum or along the lines of obtaining the details then redirecting packages to a new address. 

As someone who's messed up a couple of parcels with sending by different couriers er, learnt by experience, its best to hold on to any deliveries and then get an RMA number/pickup even if it takes a few more days rather than hand it over. Most parcel drivers are paid by package so don't want to return anything if they can so unless the address is genuinely wrong, there shouldn't be any reason for the same courier to ask for it back. 

Believe me, try to refuse delivery from a Hermes driver and its like a 100m olympic final on the driveway

[Cleoriff]

@sheepdog 

I've not heard of it before, although there has been a lot on Identity fraud. According to the BBC link I posted, it is something new(ish) which is getting worse.

To be honest, if the parcel has your name and address on, I'm sure alarm bells would ring if the courier came back and said Sorry we made a mistake, it's not for you. I certainly wouldn't hand it back.

Isn't there some postal regulation which says, if it has your name and address on it, then you are the one responsible for opening it (or it's safe keeping?)

[Anonymous]

As I tend to manage the phones round here and noone wants or has flagship phones it should be easy to smell a rat.

While from a technical standpoint an IMEI block should stop the phone working on a mobile network and the GSM Association (the trade body that represents the mobile industry worldwide) maintains an IMEI blacklist service that operators can download updates from it isn't mandatory and in some countries the regulators are as corrupt as the crooks so you'll probably find most of these get exported.

[jonsie]

^^^^ Thailand

[MRob]

I've received an email this evening - looks like someone has done this to me.

I've contacted O2 chat who have advised the fraud team will be in touch ASAP to resolve.  Hopefully they will resolve and nothing more sinister will happen.