Is this a scam - unordered package
September 17, 2020 11:17 PM Subscribe
During the summer my husband received a package of underwear from Hollister, which he did not order and which we cannot work out where it came from, and more so, why.
He initially thought I had ordered it, since it's a package of women's underwear, but it's not the kind of thing either of us like! I immediately wrote to the company to get whatever details I could, and they gave me the email address the order was made with (a gmail account with a version of my husband's name) and the last four digits of the Visa card used.
Visa cannot give me the bank, and now Hollister will answer no more questions: I want to know if the name on the card matches the name on the order, but they say they can't tell me that, that I need to file a police complaint, but unless the card is fraudulent, I can't.
Does anyone have any ideas? Another path to take? If someone was using my husband's identity, would they send things to our home address?
He initially thought I had ordered it, since it's a package of women's underwear, but it's not the kind of thing either of us like! I immediately wrote to the company to get whatever details I could, and they gave me the email address the order was made with (a gmail account with a version of my husband's name) and the last four digits of the Visa card used.
Visa cannot give me the bank, and now Hollister will answer no more questions: I want to know if the name on the card matches the name on the order, but they say they can't tell me that, that I need to file a police complaint, but unless the card is fraudulent, I can't.
Does anyone have any ideas? Another path to take? If someone was using my husband's identity, would they send things to our home address?
Yeah, sounds like the verified purchaser review scam. The package costs $10 and the scammer is being paid $30 per "verified" fake 5 star review, so they don't care at all about the free samples being sent out. Luckily it doesn't actually hurt you, the physical recipient.
posted by benzenedream at 12:35 AM on September 18, 2020
posted by benzenedream at 12:35 AM on September 18, 2020
Response by poster: Sorry, I forgot to say, definitely not our card, and it's 90 euros worth of underwear so I don't think it's "brushing". Thanks!
posted by bwonder2 at 2:01 AM on September 18, 2020
posted by bwonder2 at 2:01 AM on September 18, 2020
Because the seller is ultimately paying themselves for the package, the list price of the item is a lot less important than you’d initially think.
posted by mhoye at 4:52 AM on September 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 4:52 AM on September 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
We've received multiple offbrand apple macbook chargers this summer via brushing.
posted by stray at 5:23 AM on September 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by stray at 5:23 AM on September 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
If this is coming directly from Hollister and there's an obvious attempt to appear to be your husband, I doubt it's brushing or soliciting reviews. They run their own platform, they don't try to game Amazon rankings or anything like that.
I know for a fact that their parent company is targeted with a lot of fraud where the bad guys buy goods with stolen cards and then sell it on Amazon 3rd party or eBay. In this case, they might have thought they had a chance of snagging the package from your door or something like that.
posted by Candleman at 8:44 AM on September 18, 2020
I know for a fact that their parent company is targeted with a lot of fraud where the bad guys buy goods with stolen cards and then sell it on Amazon 3rd party or eBay. In this case, they might have thought they had a chance of snagging the package from your door or something like that.
posted by Candleman at 8:44 AM on September 18, 2020
Also, I hate to say it, but is there any chance your husband ordered it and switched to playing ignorant when you found out about the package?
posted by Candleman at 10:05 AM on September 18, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 10:05 AM on September 18, 2020 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks, I'm still at an impasse. Will keep trying to find out. Thanks Candleman that idea is hilarious on so so many levels! Trust me, it's not a secret he's been caught in.
posted by bwonder2 at 5:19 AM on September 19, 2020
posted by bwonder2 at 5:19 AM on September 19, 2020
bwonder2...Your profile says you are in Paris, so I am basing this comment on your being in France/EU. Here in the US, you would be able to pull your credit report from the three main credit bureaus, and check to see if a new credit card (or cards) has been taken out in your husband's name. Is there anything similar there?
I would guess that a credit card has been taken out using your husband's credentials (but tied to a new bank account somewhere). Then, after large purchases are made with the card, chargebacks are issued (due to non-delivery?) and that money transferred to the new bank account. Profit!
posted by Thorzdad at 8:02 AM on September 19, 2020
I would guess that a credit card has been taken out using your husband's credentials (but tied to a new bank account somewhere). Then, after large purchases are made with the card, chargebacks are issued (due to non-delivery?) and that money transferred to the new bank account. Profit!
posted by Thorzdad at 8:02 AM on September 19, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
Also, I assume that this was not one of your own credit cards, right?
posted by metahawk at 11:52 PM on September 17, 2020 [2 favorites]