Elaborate brushing scam, or plot point on The White Lotus?
December 10, 2022 11:53 AM   Subscribe

About a month ago, I noticed a pending charge on my online credit card statement for nearly $500, for a purchase I hadn’t made and from a vendor called Triboo Digitale (which, according to google, is an Italian IT company). I immediately called my credit card issuer to report a fraudulent charge. They posted a chargeback to my account while they investigated the claim, and issued me a new credit card with a new account number. I assumed it was a simple case of someone having skimmed my card number, and didn’t think about it further. Until…

A couple of days later, I received a UPS package that had been sent from Italy from a luxury fashion brand, containing two (wildly tacky, no-doubt overpriced) items. There was no invoice included, but I assumed that this was the charge from a few days earlier.

I called my credit card issuer back to report that I’d received these goods, but reiterated that I absolutely hadn’t ordered them (and that my spouse, the only other person with access to my card, had certainly not ordered them either). The service agent suggested I go to UPS to return the package, explaining that the order was fraudulent and asking for a receipt to prove that I’d sent it back. However, the UPS agent said that they had a mechanism for dealing with fraudulent orders domestically, but not internationally, and so I was stuck with it.

Today I received notice from my credit card company that they’d researched my claim, and had obtained the invoice from the brand showing my name and address. (Which, given that I’d already reported that I’d received the package addressed to me, wasn’t actually a surprise, but I digress.) They regarded this as proof that there was no fraud, and so they were reversing the chargeback—and now the $500 is back on my account.

However, in looking at the copy of the invoice, I noticed that my first name is spelled using a variation of my name. (It's actually my legal name, but I don't use it on a daily basis and it is not the spelling associated with this credit card account, though it is how my name is spelled on my driver's license.) Additionally, the phone number on the order is not mine (though its area code is from a different part of the city where I live). There’s no email address shown on the invoice. (Out of curiosity, I tried to log in to the brand website by plugging in my personal and work email addresses and requesting a password recovery, but no dice.) I haven't contacted the brand itself yet; there's no U.S. customer service (only an Italian phone number), but there is a brief online form I could fill out, though I feel sort of doubtful it would do much good.

So, before I contact my credit card company again to try to appeal their decision: what’s going on? It's nothing like an Amazon brushing scam and doesn't seem like a reshipping mule scam. I’m genuinely mystified, and also annoyed that I may be on the hook for nearly $500 for crap I didn’t order but have no way to return. Has anyone else encountered this, or have any suggestions for next steps? (Have I perhaps become a minor plot point in the current season of The White Lotus?) Thanks!
posted by paper scissors sock to Grab Bag (12 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
From googling the company name + “clothing,” Triboo seems to provide distribution services for clothing brands—so the order may have come directly from the designer’s site and Triboo handled the order.

Doesn’t explain how someone ordered with your info, or why the goods were actually delivered to you, but you may want to try try searching the brand too to see if there are complaints of fraudulent charges.
posted by kapers at 12:13 PM on December 10, 2022


I've had this happen to me as well (another clothing company). For me, the amount was small enough that I didn't go through the aggravation of trying to fix it, but you should file a complaint with the CFPB. "No liability for fraudulent charges" seems to be getting undermined by this BS approach.
posted by praemunire at 1:39 PM on December 10, 2022


(For me, btw, it was a test charge and they followed up a bit later with a much larger charge, which I did successfully contest. I never believed in test fraudulent charges until then, but that really is what it looked like. If the items are crap, then they "got" you to pay $500 for crap, so they came out well ahead.)
posted by praemunire at 1:41 PM on December 10, 2022


The differing numbers and lack of email in the order make it unlikely, and it’s already a rare side effect, but do you use Ambien?
posted by zamboni at 1:44 PM on December 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


There is also a kind of scam such as this where you receive the merchandise, then receive a shipping label to "ship it back." But it gets shipped to the scammer instead. It's trivially easy to send a FedEx or UPS guy to someone's house with a label if you have an account.

Credit card companies in the US charge 10x the transaction fees that are allowed in, for example, Germany and other places, so they usually are willing to absorb a loss for fraud, because they make so very much money.
posted by jabah at 1:48 PM on December 10, 2022 [4 favorites]


Oh, I see now that the scam I referenced is what the link in the question calls a "reshipping mule scam." My impression is that the recipients of packages in those types of scams believe they are doing a legitimate job by sending the packages on, but maybe I'm wrong.
posted by jabah at 2:05 PM on December 10, 2022


Best answer: > have any suggestions for next steps?

I have had to re-contact my credit card company when they "closed" the investigation because they received a response from the merchant and sided with them. They reversed the credit and I had to file another form (essentially swearing and restating that the charge was NOT authorized) and gave them as much info as I could to prove that I had no knowledge of the items ordered or any of the people/companies involved. I think you'll just have to be patient and persistent until they remove the charge permanently, and then be even more vigilant going forward.

IME, credit card companies are getting less...accommodating? proactive? in protecting the cardholder from fraudulent charges. It used to be that the card company would be the first to notice and check with me if I'd made a particular purchase, but now I have to check the statements for ones they've missed, and I've increasingly had to push with them to get them to remove unauthorized charges.

I've cut my credit card use way down because of the dread of dealing with more of these issues. For the ones still active, I've turned on instantaneous charge alerts (you can usually choose to be notified via email or text), so next time I can respond while the charges are still fresh.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 3:57 PM on December 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


Could someone have access to an old device of yours, with both address info and credit card or Google pay info (or something similar).

You may be wondering, wouldn't an attempted thief have changed the address? Well, they might have tried, but screwed it up because they wanted the billing address to be the same.

Do not overestimate the competence of thieves.

I had my phone stolen. And... The thief put a new sim in, didn't wipe it, and in their attempt to set up their own gmail account on my phone - the thief accidentally set it up to forward their emails to my account.

Emails that included their parole officer. 🙄🤦🏻

The reason I hadn't remotely wiped it is because I had google maps on, so I went and demanded my phone (I grew up with far more threatening idiots where I'm from). I ended up meeting the whole household, partners, random friends and family members, and was shown a variety of phones that were not mine, before eventually getting my phone back.
(Should I have dealt with the police? Oh sure, they got involved as well, but were also kind of incompetent [they were disappointed that they couldn't hold my phone for months as evidence, and that I wasn't going to be in the country long enough for trial, charges etc, which is why I hadn't gotten involved in that).

It was one of the more ridiculous situations I've been in, but I really just wanted to shake their whole household and explain that they are too incompetent to 'do crime'.

So, when you have something that would make sense as a scam, if it wasn't for some really dumb aspect - assume a dumb scammer.

And try to make sure all your old devices are logged out etc.
posted by Elysum at 9:07 PM on December 10, 2022 [5 favorites]


Why not go ahead and contact the brand that sent the merchandise, using the online form?

While it's strange that they didn't give you an invoice in your package, if their role in this weird situation is innocent and they are themselves legit, then they should be ready to help you make a return and get a refund.
posted by marlys at 12:50 PM on December 11, 2022


(And re: "what's going on," they might have some info about the order that will help make sense of it. Slim chance perhaps, but you never know...)
posted by marlys at 12:52 PM on December 11, 2022


Response by poster: Following up to say that this is finally resolved -- per Sockinthefreeworld's comment, I appealed the decision by laying out all the reasons it couldn't have been me, and today received a one-sentence notice that they were finding in my favor and permanently closing the case. I don't know what actually did the trick, but at least I'm off the hook for some really tacky stuff! Thanks, all.
posted by paper scissors sock at 1:00 PM on February 7, 2023 [1 favorite]


Yay! These things can be a hassle but congrats for getting it cleared up.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 2:31 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]


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