This scam is the complete package – just ask the victims
Allen and Monica have known each other for almost a year. They talk every day, usually several times, sharing the news of the day, struggles faced, little victories, even secrets. To top this, they are planning to be married in just a few months.
Monica lives in the United Kingdom, but the majority of her family resides in Eastern Europe. Allen has become such an important part of her life due to her family being so far away. He sees Monica as his soul mate and so thoroughly enjoys their online discussions.
As the time for Monica’s arrival in Spokane draws closer, she begins to ask Allen for small favors, easy requests that he is happy to handle.
For example, she sends him money for postage and asks that he help her send some hard-to-locate items to her family in Eastern Europe. Because many things are less expensive in America, these shipping costs still make it quite a bargain.
Packages begin to arrive at Allen’s door from a mish-mash of retailers: clothing, handbags, shoes, electronics, toys, all paid for and packaged up.
Monica instructs Allen to simply wait until he gets several packages, at which time he is to simply take the items out of the original boxes, put them into one larger box and ship them off to her family. All Allen has to do now is take a trip to his local post office and ship them off! This simple gesture makes Monica so happy that it is worth any trouble it may take Allen!
With time, more and more packages are being shipped off to Europe in this manner. Soon, Monica will be in Spokane. Allen is on cloud nine, and all is right with the world. He never thought he could be so happy and fulfilled with someone he’s met on the Internet!
But, then, strange things begin to happen. Allen gets calls and letters from retailers across the country about items shipped to his address paid for with stolen credit cards.
At first, he chalks this up to a simple mistake, but then he fears his identity may have been stolen. Then, it hits him: The packages he has repackaged for Monica are the very merchandise retailers are contacting him about. The businesses who sent items are talking about stolen merchandise, felonies and prison.
He e-mails Monica, no response. He attempts to call her, the phone has been disconnected. He can’t find her anywhere. She has even left her job! Where else can he look?
Allen decides that it is in his best interest to cooperate with authorities, and begins telling them about “Monica,” her “family” in Europe and the series of packages he has supposedly sent to them over the last several months. Not everyone cares or understands that he, too, is a victim.
When a merchant accepts a credit card, funds are transferred into the company’s account, but if there is a charge back, for example if a card is stolen or the customer disputes a charge, that amount is charged back, or taken out of the business’s account.
All the business sees is “Allen in Spokane” who received the goods that no one has paid for. Since it’s him they can find, he is the one they go after. As a result, Allen is now thousands and thousands of dollars in debt for goods he has shipped for Monica.
This is how the “repackaging scam” works. No, they are not all this drawn-out; some only entail a couple items. However, the risk is always the same.
The US Postal Service states that this is the fastest-growing scam in 2007. Victims are the businesses that end up sending merchandise that is never paid for. In turn, we all pay for that as costs of goods increase to cover the losses.
Businesses, check with your own merchant credit card service providers for tips on how to avoid this scam, for these types of thieves are getting smarter all the time, and there are twists and turns at each curve. We need to be sure we do our best to be up-to-date informed by them so the good guys win once in a while!