Kinek mystery package, should I worry?

July 8, 2013 12:21 PM

I just got an email informing me that a package I never ordered is available for pick-up in Fineview, New York, which is nowhere near me. Is this a scam? Who is being scammed?

For context, I do have an account with Kinek so I could order stuff that won't deliver to Canada and I would pick it up at a town near the border. I haven't actually used the service yet, and my nearest "Kinek point" would be in North Dakota, not New York.

This is what it said in the email:

Your package from DICKS was delivered by UPS to the Wellesley Isl. Bld. Supply located at P.O. Box 241, 44482 County Rt 191, Fineview, New York. Your package can be picked up at the customer service desk.

When I logged in to the Kinek site, it lists the package, so it's not just a spoofed email, it really was from Kinek.

I've emailed Kinek support to tell them I never ordered this. Has my account been hijacked by scammers or something? Is there anything else I should do?

The email also says to pick it up I would need to provide the Kinek# and two pieces of ID, so would this mean they also have fake IDs in my name? Or is there some way this works as a scam without the scammers picking up the package?

posted by RobotHero to Law & Government (16 answers total)

Most likely someone put your email in by accident instead of their own when signing up for package delivery notification or there was a issue with the companies email database. Either way its quite likely you have nothing to worry about, though I would probably go and change all my major passwords just for piece of mind.
posted by Captain_Science at 12:29 PM on July 8, 2013

If there's malice here it'd probably be that that the link to logon to your Kinek account was fake and they were phishing for your Kinek login. (Memail me if you'd like to forward me the whole email, including headers, and I'll tell you if there's anything fishy in it.)
posted by Zed at 12:54 PM on July 8, 2013

Response by poster: The email address I used for this account is @ my own domain, it is unlikely someone would enter it by accident. If it's just a mistake, I think it would have to be Kinek's mistake.

Phishing was my first thought, but usually those pretend to be Paypal or Amazon or UPS, and the phishers rarely have my real name, so I was curious. I logged into Kinek without following any links from the email. The package is listed on my Kinek account. If they're up to something nefarious, it's whatever they do AFTER they've accessed my Kinek account, not before.
posted by RobotHero at 1:27 PM on July 8, 2013

Double check your credit card bills but also call the merchant directly. A few years ago I had something similar happen to me--package (in this case a PC) delivered to not-my-address and only discovered it when I was billed months later (identity theives cleverly purchased item with 'no payments for 3mo' and were long gone when the scam was detected).
posted by donovan at 1:49 PM on July 8, 2013

Has my account been hijacked by scammers or something?

Magic 8 Ball says: Signs point to yes
posted by Doohickie at 2:04 PM on July 8, 2013

Response by poster: I have no contact info for the merchant, they're just listed as "DICKS" which does not help or inspire confidence. You don't pay for anything through Kinek, just arrange for shipping, so it's possible my account is being used as a conduit to scam someone else.

I could contact the pickup location.
posted by RobotHero at 2:28 PM on July 8, 2013

Could it be from Dick's Sporting Goods?
posted by mollymayhem at 2:58 PM on July 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

I would suspect that the wrong Kinek number got put in at some point, and so when the package got delivered they just blindly entered it in the Kinek system and it sends the e-mail to you instead of the person who ordered it.
posted by ckape at 3:00 PM on July 8, 2013

When I logged in to the Kinek site, it lists the package, so it's not just a spoofed email, it really was from Kinek.


If I'm understanding the way Kinek works, it sounds like a package really was delivered to the address attached to your Kinek account. Maybe someone sent a package to the wrong PO Box?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 3:00 PM on July 8, 2013

I would contact the pickup location and see if the package looks like it could be from Dick's Sporting Goods, which is a very large national chain retailer in the US. If it's from Dick's, you can follow up with their customer service.
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:21 PM on July 8, 2013

Not to add to the paranoia, but consider that there may be something not quite kosher in that package, and that it may be tough to prove you had nothing to do with it.

If it was that scam, and done right, you'd never have heard anything about it. But not all crooks are competent.
posted by Quisp Lover at 4:26 PM on July 8, 2013

The most likely thing is that someone put the wrong box number on their order. I used to get that quite regularly with my old PO Box. The package is probably addressed to whoever ordered's real name, and Kinek can probably use that to figure out which box to put it in if this is pointed out to them.
posted by The Monkey at 6:05 PM on July 8, 2013

Could someone have sent you a gift...from Dick's Sporting Goods?
posted by mumstheword at 8:51 PM on July 8, 2013

Response by poster: If I'm being framed or being sent a gift, they could have made it easier for me. The pickup location I had in my account was in North Dakota, but whoever ordered the package sent it to NY.

Assuming the Kinek system doesn't cross-check the number against the name, I suppose when the package arrived in Fineview, NY someone could have keyed someone else's number in wrong and come up with mine.

Sporting goods makes sense for something that won't ship to Canada.

If I don't hear back from Kinek support tomorrow, I'll contact the pickup location in NY, make them double-check they entered it right. But yeah, maybe it's an innocent mistake.
posted by RobotHero at 10:02 PM on July 8, 2013

I get an e-mail at least weekly that claims a failed package delivery - the source varies. I ignore all of them because I know better. I've heard this is likely a virus.
posted by aryma at 12:18 AM on July 9, 2013

Response by poster: Okay, I got a response from Kinek support and they claim someone typed in a number wrong.
posted by RobotHero at 8:01 AM on July 9, 2013