Weird Amazon thing

[jsb]

I was wondering if anyone else has seen this scam and what exactly they trying to get at.

A few weeks ago I had a pending charge posted to my credit card from Amazon. I hadn't ordered anything so I put a track on it to email me as soon as it went final. It went final a few days later and suddenly an amazon box appears with my address and my first name (no last name). In that box, there are 3 things that are probably close to the value of the charge ($35). No receipt and it doesn't show up on my recent amazon order list. I dispute the charge with my credit card and try to figure out how to dispute it with amazon.

Today I get another pending amazon charge ($55). I fully figure a new box will show up sometime this week. I remove my credit card from my Amazon account, change my password (again), and have my credit card company send my a new card with a new number. I fully expect a new box to show up this week though.

So what's the scam here? Are they sending me $10 worth of stuff and pocketing the other $20, hoping I won't notice? Will they eventually stop sending me stuff at all and keep charging? Is there anything else I can do?

 

[dosry5]

You’re going to jail

 

[alarson]

A card can be used on more than one account. I'd be worried someone else has your information. They could be someone local, and planning on ordering stuff and taking it from your porch.

You're going to want to contact Amazon to get the full details though

 

[Bipolarcy]

A card can be used on more than one account. I'd be worried someone else has your information. They could be someone local, and planning on ordering stuff and taking it from your porch.

You're going to want to contact Amazon to get the full details though

That seems like a very inefficient scam. What are they going to do, camp out on his doorstep until UPS arrives? Seems there would be better ways of scamming someone that didn't involve monitoring someone else's porch.

 

[alarson]

That seems like a very inefficient scam. What are they going to do, camp out on his doorstep until UPS arrives? Seems there would be better ways of scamming someone that didn't involve monitoring someone else's porch.

Tracking is a thing for all major shippers. Youd just have to wait until there's a notification.

A lot of people don't pay close enough attention to their accounts, so they might not even notice something's been done.

 

[Cyclone.TV]

That seems like a very inefficient scam. What are they going to do, camp out on his doorstep until UPS arrives? Seems there would be better ways of scamming someone that didn't involve monitoring someone else's porch.

hey pal, if you have any better ideas feel free to share.

 

[Trice]

I was wondering if anyone else has seen this scam and what exactly they trying to get at.

A few weeks ago I had a pending charge posted to my credit card from Amazon. I hadn't ordered anything so I put a track on it to email me as soon as it went final. It went final a few days later and suddenly an amazon box appears with my address and my first name (no last name). In that box, there are 3 things that are probably close to the value of the charge ($35). No receipt and it doesn't show up on my recent amazon order list. I dispute the charge with my credit card and try to figure out how to dispute it with amazon.

Today I get another pending amazon charge ($55). I fully figure a new box will show up sometime this week. I remove my credit card from my Amazon account, change my password (again), and have my credit card company send my a new card with a new number. I fully expect a new box to show up this week though.

So what's the scam here? Are they sending me $10 worth of stuff and pocketing the other $20, hoping I won't notice? Will they eventually stop sending me stuff at all and keep charging? Is there anything else I can do?

Are these charges of $35 and $55 exact or are you just rounding? And not to condescend here but you're sure these are actual Amazon charges, as opposed to someone spoofing something to look like Amazon? Perhaps your credit card company can offer more info on where the charge is coming from, like a vendor ID or customer service line you can call.

 

[Trice]

Tracking is a thing for all major shippers. Youd just have to wait until there's a notification.

A lot of people don't pay close enough attention to their accounts, so they might not even notice something's been done.

Along these lines I'd consider creating accounts with USPS, UPS, and FedEx and claiming your home address. Then if some mystery package is coming your way you weren't expecting, you'll get a notification and head start on investigating it.

(Edit: same thing with the IRS and Social Security, for identity theft prevention purposes.)

 

[Lemmiwinks]

Your wife has your card on her account and ordering stuff for her bull hoping you won’t notice.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Might be a variation of what is described here except they are also hitting your card. Might be a crooked seller from Amazon you bought something from earlier.

https://clark.com/shopping-retail/amazon-scam-brushing-warning-deliveries-you-didnt-order/

 

[BoxsterCy]

Along these lines I'd consider creating accounts with USPS, UPS, and FedEx and claiming your home address. Then if some mystery package is coming your way you weren't expecting, you'll get a notification and head start on investigating it.

Lots of luck with that. I haven't been impressed with those as they don't seem to offer more than what you can look up via the tracking number. Was home all day yesterday and got the notice my expected UPS package was delivered at 1:39. It had not been delivered. I was home all day and fresh snow with no footprints in it. Because it was "delivered" I could not seem to get past the UPS crappy AI assistant that just asked automatic questions that were supposed to lead to a live chat but it never did. Found the package by querying neighbors, it had been delivered to the wrong address.

 

[Trice]

Lots of luck with that. I haven't been impressed with those as they don't seem to offer more than what you can look up via the tracking number. Was home all day yesterday and got the notice my expected UPS package was delivered at 1:39. It had not been delivered. I was home all day and fresh snow with no footprints in it. Because it was "delivered" I could not seem to get past the UPS crappy AI assistant that just asked automatic questions that were supposed to lead to a live chat but it never did. Found the package by querying neighbors, it had been delivered to the wrong address.

The point of signing up is to claim your address, so a would-be package thief can't claim it for you and get notifications of packages arriving. It's not a guaranteed solution but it would make their life more difficult.

 

[Bipolarcy]

Tracking is a thing for all major shippers. Youd just have to wait until there's a notification.

A lot of people don't pay close enough attention to their accounts, so they might not even notice something's been done.

hey pal, if you have any better ideas feel free to share.

Same to ya, pal.

 

[josh4cy]

Are the items something that you have been looking at. Or are they completely random junk.

I have heard of people receiving random items when they didn't order them. Companies buy items and ship them to random addresses so they can give them self good reviews.

 

[Deere2004]

Did you figure anything out with this? I think this may have just happened to me, but we can't tell if there are any illegitimate expenses on our account.

 

[jsb]

Did you figure anything out with this? I think this may have just happened to me, but we can't tell if there are any illegitimate expenses on our account.

Nope, my credit card credited me for the first charge and I assume they will for the second. I cancelled the card and got a new number issued and I've changed my Amazon account. Hopefully I'm good.

My second box contained an off brand Apple Watch knockoff (it gets a pretty good review on CNET) and a weird industrial phone case. I'd be interested in the watch, but there's no way I'm downloading the app or connecting it to my phone.

 

[jsb]

Are the items something that you have been looking at. Or are they completely random junk.

I have heard of people receiving random items when they didn't order them. Companies buy items and ship them to random addresses so they can give them self good reviews.

Completely random junk. I've literally never searched on Amazon for any of the things that I got. Although, in a weird and kind of scary thing, one of the items showed up on a Facebook ad this week.

 

[3TrueFans]

Its like secret Santa except you have to pay for it, I don’t think it’ll catch on.

 

[DJSteve]

The gig used to be if you were a scammer with a stolen CC number, you placed a small order shipped to the card's billing address first, then once that went through they could more easily order stuff and ship it elsewhere (to themselves) without triggering a fraud alert.

 

[Deere2004]

Completely random junk. I've literally never searched on Amazon for any of the things that I got. Although, in a weird and kind of scary thing, one of the items showed up on a Facebook ad this week.

This seems to be the same thing to happened to me. Amazon wasn't very helpful, but we got our card cancelled immediately. We've got a fraudulent $150 order coming so I'm wondering what crap that will be.