Fraud, Scams, and Related Criminality

[spork]

Anyone knowledgeable about credit card scams? I recently received a package containing two 5-count boxes of protein bars. My name and address, Walmart+, and some number and a bar code were on the label. Envelope had the Walmart logo on it. No USPS or UPS markings or tracking numbers. I found this package curious because:

1. A few weeks ago I clicked on this brand of protein bar on the Walmart website, but it was the 10-count box rather than a 5-count box.

2. Although I looked at the item, I didn't order it, and it doesn't show in my purchase history.

3. Although I have an account on the Walmart website, I don't have a Walmart+ account (Walmart+ is similar in concept to Amazon Prime).

4. Neither of my credit cards shows a charge to Walmart for the order. Nor do they show any mysterious charges to other vendors.

I have heard of people using stolen credit card numbers to fraudulently buy and ship items to uninvolved third parties, but I don't know how these scams work. And if this is what's happening, how did the scammer know that I consume this product?

[Puget]

There is a type of scam where companies send un-ordered products (usually cheap stuff) as a way of boosting their apparent sales so they appear higher on the Amazon search rankings. I don't know if something like that might happen with Walmart as well? I think there isn't usually a stolen credit card involved, just the company's way of gaming the system, so not actually illegal just strange.

In this case where it is actually something you searched for, unless you use a tracking blocker on your browser, all your traffic is searchable and buyable by companies, so the vender of the bars almost certainly knows who looked at them (Walmart may also have a deal to directly share this info with its venders). So the company may have sent them as a promotional free sample. You would think they would include something saying it was a free sample to make it less creepy, but if they're just dispatching them from Walmart that might not be possible.

(When I was a kid in the 80s-90s we'd somewhat regularly get free samples in the mail inside packets of coupons  - I remember mini boxes of cereal in particular, because it was the only time I got sugary cereal in my health food centric home -- very exciting! I wonder when companies stopped doing that and why? Maybe people started getting worried about tampering? )

[Parasaurolophus]

It's probably either what Puget says, a related scheme to get reviews for a cheap product, or possibly, depending on what you get and the volume of it, someone has listed your address as the return address for their crappy products (because they're overseas somewhere and need a local address but don't have one).

If it's the last, you may eventually be on the hook for delivery fees, which is a big problem and will take a lot of undoing. Since it's protein bars, this probably isn't the case. If you start seeing clothes or shoes, then don't open any more packages and talk to all the delivery entities ASAP (USPS, UPS, DHL, FedEx, etc.).

[ciao_yall]

Anyone knowledgeable about credit card scams? I recently received a package containing two 5-count boxes of protein bars. My name and address, Walmart+, and some number and a bar code were on the label. Envelope had the Walmart logo on it. No USPS or UPS markings or tracking numbers. I found this package curious because:

1. A few weeks ago I clicked on this brand of protein bar on the Walmart website, but it was the 10-count box rather than a 5-count box.

2. Although I looked at the item, I didn't order it, and it doesn't show in my purchase history.

3. Although I have an account on the Walmart website, I don't have a Walmart+ account (Walmart+ is similar in concept to Amazon Prime).

4. Neither of my credit cards shows a charge to Walmart for the order. Nor do they show any mysterious charges to other vendors.

I have heard of people using stolen credit card numbers to fraudulently buy and ship items to uninvolved third parties, but I don't know how these scams work. And if this is what's happening, how did the scammer know that I consume this product?

My guess is that it is a database error. You won't be liable for anything since you were not involved.

If you have time, bring the unopened box and packaging to Walmart and explain the situation.

[clean]

If you are worried about credit card issues, pull your credit reports.  You can get a free credit report from each bureau once per year.

Annualcreditreport.com  is the site. 

(just get the report, you dont need the score, which is not free).

If there are questions about this, PM me or post them.  The most popular misinformation is that IF you pull your report, it will lower your credit score.  It will NOT. 

[spork]

I have a freeze on new lines of credit with the major credit reporting bureaus.

I was wondering about triangulation fraud. I did order a 10-count box of the protein bars from eBay. This order is scheduled to be delivered via USPS this week -- the package is in the USPS tracking system. But the mystery package was marked as coming from Walmart, not an eBay seller, and contained two 5-count boxes, not the single 10-count box I bought on eBay. I have checked my eBay purchase history, and I don't have any other recent orders for these protein bars.

Also, this product retails for $17. I don't see how a scammer could generate enough revenue from such a small transaction to make it a worthwhile enterprise, unless he or she is doing this in high volume over a short period of time all over the country.

[namazu]

I did order a 10-count box of the protein bars from eBay. This order is scheduled to be delivered via USPS this week -- the package is in the USPS tracking system. But the mystery package was marked as coming from Walmart, not an eBay seller, and contained two 5-count boxes, not the single 10-count box I bought on eBay. I have checked my eBay purchase history, and I don't have any other recent orders for these protein bars.

Triangulation fraud is possible, though it may just be a drop-shipper.  (Unless there's a packing slip with someone else's credit card info, I wouldn't know how to tell the difference.)  You ordered the product for more than it cost the seller to purchase it from Walmart+ and have it shipped to you, so they profit, and you get the 10 bars you ordered (if not in the configuration you ordered) and the frustration of knowing you could possibly have gotten the product cheaper if you'd ordered directly from Walmart (maybe only with discounts available to Walmart+ customers).  I don't know eBay's policy on drop-shipping, i.e. whether sellers are required to have the inventory on hand.

If you also receive what you actually ordered via USPS, or if someone comes after you for money (hope not!) I'll be interested to hear.  Then the drop-shipping scenario becomes less likely.

[spork]

It's probably either what Puget says, a related scheme to get reviews for a cheap product

[...]

I just learned about brushing scams. Maybe I'm now involved in one or something similar. The eBay seller from whom I purchased the 10-count box now has my address. One of the seller's eBay reviews mentioned that delivery occurred through an unnamed third party without invoice. The mystery Walmart package that I received had no return address or invoice.

Also, the eBay seller's store is almost entirely 2- or 3-pack food items -- stuff like snack bars, vegetable oil, and breakfast cereal -- selling for less than $20. Only 387 items sold since the account was created in 2018. Whoever it is can't be making much money if they are running a legitimate business.

[spork]

Latest development:

The USPS package that was supposedly my eBay-purchased box of protein bars arrived today. It consisted entirely of an empty, unsealed business envelope with a shipping label printed on it. The return address was for someone in New York City. USPS tracking says that the shipping label was created in New York City but that the "package" first came into USPS possession in Hitchcock, TX, and traveled from there to my address.

I assume the Walmart+ package that arrived last week and lacked sender information was my eBay order, and that somehow the eBay seller has figured out how to sell Walmart items for less than Walmart does.