Parcel mule scam Puns

• I used voice typing for most of this so my apologies for run on sentences

So a few weeks ago i was job searching on indeed (I've gotten jobs this way in the past so it's normal for me) and just applied to a bunch of different jobs dealing with customer service, warehouse, work from home ect.

Eventually I got an email about a job for a "quality control manager". At this point I'm not even sure if I actually applied directly for this or not or if they just found my application on the site (Indeed does sometimes send job recommendation emails). I got a couple emails before I actually responded and it was for a PCL LLC. To my knowledge now, this is what some redditers call a "package mule scam". I'm usually good at detecting scams on job sites but I had never heard of this type of scam and was in a pretty desperate situation and I guess was just trying to be hopeful that this actually be a good job with some good money.

Basically I I responded back to one of the emails. A woman from their "HR department" called me to schedule an interview and I did. We talked, she asked me questions, gave a rundown of the job and then I accepted it. Then they started emailing me information like, official employee documents, I had to sign for a dashboard where I would upload pictures of each package that get shipped to my house and there drop off receipts. I was saying welcome emails, assigned a supervisor who called me to welcome me to the company.

What set things off for me was the payroll process. they had asked for my banking information via email which I thought was weird then I don't know if it was like right after that but on the Google Chrome new tab page on my phone it advertised an article about shipping scams which is how I found out about this type of scam and it freaked me out so I started looking into their website and more and things just felt OFF.

The website is Packagechef.com They're supposedly based in Portland, Oregon based on their websites and the area code to the phone numbers they've called me from

At the point of me writing this I haven't received a package from them yet and I would like to try to stop the packages before they even start coming. I do have delivery notifications set up with all three of the major carriers so I was thinking about maybe calling each one to see if I can pause any future packages with my name or somebody else that's not in my household from coming to the house but I don't know if that could work or not.

MY ACTI

Company called Roqqe offered me the job. I have been burnt-out and exhausted from job searching after COVID killed my entertainment job, and fell for this shit hook line and sinker. I had no idea this was a thing but it's exactly like the article linked in the pinned common scams post.

They have a slick website with multiple job openings and an online terminal for processing "orders," multiple "employees" that I spoke to via phone and email, and they said that my first paycheck would have to be sent by mail—no direct deposit until after the first check. I haven't been in it long enough to be paid but I now assume this would be a fraudulent check.

I filed a report as uspis.gov and dunno what else to do? Except cry maybe? Fuck these people.

>I am a Human Resources manager. We came across your CV through an employment bureau.
We would like to offer you a vacancy: Escrow Assistant.
The base pay rate is $3750 monthly plus bonuses.
Available in: U.S (Any State)
Job type: Regular Mon-Fri.
Employment regulations:
- Registered in the United States of America
- Must be aged over 25
- Knowledge of Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Common computer skills
- Fundamental familiarity with electronics and appliances
- Physical capability to handle wide packages, which are not heavy
- 24-7 access to an internet connection and a printer.
Position Description:
- Accepting delivered shipments at your personal home address.
- mailing out shipments
- Making reports daily
- communicating with your team leader daily without delays.
- Documenting information regarding the packages
If you find this job interesting we are looking for your answer to our email.
Thank you kindly for sparing your valuable time to read this offer.

They guise under "Global MarketPlace"

Hi all. I’ve had some unsolicted parcels turn up - to my address, but not my name. Auspost shows that they were posted from the same suburb.

Anyone had experience of dodgy happenings related to this kind of thing?

I’m concerned there may be some criminal intent at work.

Cheers

I saw a posting on Indeed regarding the job of a “Gift Handler.” Basically I would just need to have packages delivered to my house and take pics of it and load it to a website. I checked out their website VALLEYGIFT.com and it looked legit so I applied. I applied and was accepted after they called for a quick phone interview where they honestly just went over the job more than a personal jnterview. They “checked references” and verified id before offering me the job. iD verification included asking for a form of ID like Driver’s license or passport. After everything “checked out” to them, they sent me a job contract and also 1099 form. I thought everything looked legit but I should’ve known the job was too easy for the money. They contacted me all this while using an messaging App called Telegram. Right away after signing on I could tell something was wrong because they didn’t do any sort of training with me and the employee portal they had me log into seemed super super simple. I received 3 packages from them within a week. I ceased contact with them after sending them an email basically telling them to lead a better life. After receiving the packages I started receiving all these letters from PayPal addressed to different people using my address saying they were denied application for a Paypal credit account. I am going to take all the boxes and mail to the police along with screen shots of all my encounters with them. I hope they get what’s due to them. Karma’s a b**** and I believe they will get what’s coming.

Was offered a job to receive and ship packages for a good amount of money last week. Today I spoke with a guy and they got me set up on a online portal where i'll receive info on packages i'll be shipping and receiving. After all that, it finally hit me that something doesn't seem right. So I did a bunch of research on the company but I couldn't find anything until I Googled a phone number. I discovered they had been reported as a scam on a website. I had never heard of this type of scam until today.

But I received a text that the first package is on it's way. I have the tracking number. What should I do at this point? The biggest info they have on me is my name, address, number, and a scan of my drivers license. I've already put my credit on fraud alert. I've changed passwords to certain websites. Should I cease all contact with these scammers or do I tell them i'm out before they send more packages?

A couple of days before xmas I got a COD notice from Canada Post.

I went to the Post Office, was charged $30 (for customs) and was given a parcel. It was addressed to me, with my full name and correct address. It contained a Collector Edition of a 3-record set by a rock band, including a hardcover book and other related items.

I haven't owned a record player in 30 years, was never a fan of that particular band, and never ordered music from the UK. I don't have relatives or friends in the UK. The shipper is a reputable record distributor, and it came to Canada via a standard freight forwarder. (as shown by online tracking). There is no note, comment, PO number, greeting or any other info besides tracking.

The set is listed at over $50 Euro, plus shipping, so I doubt the COD I paid could make this a profitable scam.

I read somewhere that overseas amazon sellers sometimes send unsolicited items so they can add "verified" reviews to their items, but this doesn't seem to match that pattern.

I'm just genuinely curious about what may have happened here. Does anyone have a theory?

I’ve been getting at least one scam text a day for the past 3 weeks. All of them are along the lines of I missed a parcel delivery and want me to click a link to organise a redelivery. Does anyone else experience this, can anyone help me get my number free from these scams. It’s a different mobile number every time.

ok so My sis-in-law (SIL) got acquainted with a young chap on FB dating recently.
Started chatting and this guy very systematically and methodically like and comment on her post and IG. After a few chats and calls. The guy says he need to receive important parcel as part of his thriving ecommerce biz but as he is renting. Not safe to send to his location incase taken by other tenants.

So parcel is redirected to my SIL home. For every parcel that is redirected. he would pay a transfer fee to her. Before long. different type of parcels wod be redirected to her and then he wod send grab xpress or some other courier to pickup. He wod also flex his designers clothes and limited edition stuff on IG. After a number of recurring parcels transactions over few weeks. now he encountered some type of cashflow problem as his biz is expanding rapidly. and he requested for loan as a sort of investment fund from my SIL.

By his claim. if his biz can take off. he wod able to retire in a year time.
my SIL can keep the parcel inventory as collateral and and recover the funds as promised by said guy.
There is nothing to lose and alot to gain if he is unable to return the investment loan. My SIL perhaps enticed by a prospect of wannabe high networth BF. gave him a startup loan. That amount soon grew from $100s to few thousands. and when the final loan did not return and the guy watsapps and phone did not elicited reply.

my SIL decide to slit open the heavy parcel. expecting to find some valuable products. In the end. the parcel was found to be wrap within a box and yet within another box creating the illusion of big and heavy parcel.......i dunno if this is love scam or parcel scam......So i beseech the ladies especially single ladies out there to be care of this type of scam.........

Hi

I met a Latina woman online. She asked me to transfer 30k of her money to another account. There is close to 300k on the account. Her name is the account owner.

She said it's urgent and can't do it herself.

EDIT: You've all been a great help. Thank you!

Above

I am not sure if Jim Browning is aware of this already or not, but I think I know how these scammers recruit their parcel mules!

This a write-up from an old Reddit username of mine. It's my account of a weird interaction I had with an obvious scam operation involving receiving and shipping packages when I was looking for a new job. Unfortunately, all of the links are now defunct.

It all started when I got this email in a pile of random "thank you for applying" and "we're sorry, but we're moving forward with another candidate" emails:

"Hi,

Our Company returning back concerning application on a job searching resource. I have seen that you fit our requirements for position of Supply Chain Assistant.

Duties: - Accepting/sending the packages from the service-branch, - Control of packaging defects, - Shipping of papers.

With this employment you will have: - Salary: $3,100 per month, - Additional bonuses based on the results of your performance, - Social and medical insurance, - User-friendly web tasks-panel for package tracking,

Career opportunity requirements: - Minimum knowledge of paperwork handling, - High education, - Skills or experience with PC, - Ability to take and hold packages of 1-25 lbs at home,

If you are still looking for a job, please reply to us at XXXXXXX@mail.com

Best regards!"

I taught EFL for five years and right away this email seemed like something written by an English as a second language speaker. My Spidey Senses tingled at the high salary for doing next to nothing, the lack of any company information beyond a vague email address, and the fact that one of the 'opportunity requirements' is simply 'high education'. This email was also CC'd to somebody with a yahoo.es email address. There was no mention of Spain in the email and I certainly didn't apply to any jobs working with a Spanish company. Either way, partially out of curiosity, I sent a reply with a modicum of interest and a copy of my resume where I omitted all of my contact info besides my email address.

A few days later, I got this:

"Greetings! My name is XXX, and I'm HR manager in Atlanta Logistics Services,LLC. It is my pleasure to extend the following offer of employment to you on behalf of Atlanta Logistics Services,LLC. Title: Logistics and Planning Manager Base Salary: Will be paid monthly of $3.000, which is equivalent to $ 36,000.00 on an annual basis, and subject to deductions for taxes and other withholding as required by law or the policies of the company

I’ve had the scam phone calls last month that I think everyone got but this is taking the piss. Is there anything I can do to stop them? Should I be worried?

Hi, UK here.

Two days ago an Amazon package was delivered to my door - the address is correct, but the name of recipient is unknown to me. Upon contacting Amazon, they acknowledged there was a mistake on their side and I can keep or dispose of the package. Inside was a kids' toy worth £17 on Amazon. Today I have received another parcel addressed to the same person from what looks like a kids toys retailer.

There is a pattern here (toys), but I don't think someone could enter my address twice by mistake. I know about the brushing scam, but my understanding was I should be the recipient and contents should be cheap as chips.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Edit: I contacted the retailer and they asked to return the parcel to the store. All I know is the order was placed and paid for from abroad.

Hey guys! I just got a Reddit PM of someone asking me to basically let them use my account to move $250,000 around from an offshore account in exchange for a "cut". I, using common sense said no, they then sent a picture of their monitor. It showed an Bank of America account with just under $750,000 in it. I then said I was not interested in moving their shady money around, they tried to convince me of the legitimacy of offshore accounts but I quickly blocked them. This was a bit nerve wracking as I'm under 18.

Was I almost the victim of a money mule scam?

Ive been informed that the item I am selling will be collected via fedex (they are dealing with sorting the delivery) and payment will be received on the day of collection in an envelope.

How do I know that once the parcel has been taken I get payment, does it actually come in an envelope?

Also if they are unhappy with item do I tell the delivery man that there is a no returns policy or how would I go about that if I’m not dealing with fedex?

And lastly if they are unhappy with the item if they request a refund who pays for that? Obviously I understand that not everything you buy online is what you expect however this item was posted on fb market place for the buyer to see before buying. If the buy from abroad does want a refund will I have to reimburse them and then try get the item back or will fedex compensate?

A friend of mine was "hired" by a German company to collect payment owed for sales of machines. It's a contract position. He wants him to accept funds into his person bank account (My friends), then take out the 5% commission and transfer the funds to him once cleared.

How is this not a scam? See below email?

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

EDIT and UPDATE

Thanks for all the commentary. Much appreciated. I always knew these things were scams, but didn't know what the scam was. Now, I do.

So, LinkedIn "reviewed" my case and closed it. They said it was within community guidelines. Really? I asked them to re-open. Sent them links to the fake profiles with links to the google image searches showing the real people. As I said down below, 1 was a dead lawyer, 1 an actor, 1 a real lawyer (I reached out to him, he was not amused). They did then delete the company and profiles.

Thanks again everyone!

I got this job and it seems all fine and dandy good pay etc.

After looking online it seems I may be the stupid one after all, I reached out to them and they reassured me and even providing a link to the NJ treasury with a certificate number etc.

the name is shoppingsmartllc.com

Hello everyone, this is my first time shipping an item of mine. I went through the steps and printed the label OfferUp sent me (uses Shippo) and went to USPS as directed. As soon as I handed my parcel to the teller, I was told they couldn’t take it because Shippo hasn’t paid for shipping and that they’re holding multiple other packages as they investigate them. I didn’t know what to do so left with my item and now I’m trying to figure out what to do. Any help or information is greatly appreciated, thank you!