A friend of mine here (many of you met him at Truckstock) got a very strange package yesterday from J.C. Whitney. It was addressed to him personally at his workplace. He was curious and opened the box. It was one of those K & N air filters. The receipt in the box stated that the buyer was a guy in Washington who is obviously a complete stranger to him. My friend doesn't even have an account with J.C. Whitney, and hasn't purchased anything from them that he can ever recall. In other words, J.C. Whitney shouldn't even have his address, thus making a clerical shipping error less likely. So this morning, he calls their customer service department and learns that the guy who ordered the thing paid for it via paypal and specifically left a message in his order that it be delivered to my friend here in Kentucky (like a gift). J.C. Whitney customer service told my friend they would need to contact the seller and confirm that he intended it be sent to him, keeping in mind that this person is a total stranger 2000 miles away. And my friend most definitely doesn't need a K & N filter. I don't blame him for calling the company--the curiosity would have killed me too.

What's the angle here? What are they trying to accomplish? I figured you guys would be the ones to recognize this game more than anyone else I know.

 

This is a new one. Does the filter fit anything he owns?

 

I have not a clue,,,,,,,,,,,. I would conclude your friend is a car/truck guy. I would suspect clerical error in using PayPal, especially if your friend has such account. A name similarity? Exact wording of the delivery message may lend a clue.
Or maybe it is the blue state leader spreading the wealth.

 

Not a thing. He said it's one of those conical filters that is used when somebody switches over to a K & N system.

The names aren't similar at all. And it was delivered to his place of work "care of" him. In other words, the shipping address wouldn't be associated with even his paypal account. The strange thing is everything looks legitimate as if this guy just felt like buying that filter and sending it to my friend as a gift, but they're complete and utter strangers to each other.

The blue state theory might be a consideration, hadn't thought of that..

 

Thieves who steal credit card numbers will order an item and have it shipped to the address of the card holder. However they either generally phone the shipper and have it redirected or wait outside for the shipper to deliver it. Does your friend have any idea who it was that sent it? Was it paid for with the senders PayPal account one belonging to another person? Whoever it was certainly knows something about your friend, at least his name and where he works. If I were him I'd try contacting the the guy in Washington. (No, it's not me!)

 

Somebody please call Ford and have a Ford Superduty sent to me after you paid the whole thang
Thats a new one on me - Your friend isn't on any of those Internet dating sites is he?

 

I don't have a clue what the scam would be, unless the "sender" was the victim, and it was a test of his paypal account. That still wouldn't explain how, or why, they used your friend's home address.

Very strange.

 

Yeah he has the guy's name and the city that he lives in from the shipping invoice. And it was indeed apparently paid for by the sender's paypal account. Apparently JC Whitney had the buyer's information and was going to contact him, then contact my friend with an update.

LOL. I don't think so. But man, in this day and age, nothing surprises me...LOL A K & N filter would be such a "romantic" gift.

I would imagine you're right--the sender is probably the victim. They actually used my friend's work address. It's just very strange.

 

Does your friend have a red headed wife, if so he dang well better not be on a dateing site, ha ha.

 

I have had a (one) situation occur in the past where I ordered something and checked out via PayPest and it was delivered to the wrong person at a seemingly random address. We simply straightened it out as it was cheap postage. Paypest probably pointed to the wrong address. When checking the address on my order at their site, it showed my name but the wrong address.

Edit- I let the vendor handle receiving the item back and re-shipping it to me. It was a set of schematics, cost him under $1.

 

Here is what I think. The guy in Washington is trying to verify your friends address. For another type of scam. Do not contact the guy in Washington in any way. If he gets a note or letter or phone call from the Washington guy do not respond. That let's the Washington guy know the address is valid. He could use the info to steal his identity. He would then have his Name and correct address. Change his bank passwords and any other passwords used electronically concerning money matters.

I did not not word it correctly. the washington guy is not really the washington guy so to speak. The scum who stole the washington's guy indentity already is phishing for more victims. He can get your friend's name through mailing lists or off of Yelp in this case since he used a work address however that address will be used for something later on. Like obtaining a company credit card in his name it has endless implications.

 

Here is another twist on the same type of scam. Bottom line is if you did not order it don't sign for it.

NEW DELIVERY SCAM - UNSOLICITED ITEMS
The following is a delivery scam whereby the a householder ends up footing the bill.

1) A delivery company drops an expensive item (TV in one of the incidents), to the victim's house.

2) The Victim here is a little surprised that she/he received something they didn't order but takes it in.

3) After a while, another knock on the victim's door by a person saying "Sorry, we dropped an item to your house by accident, we apologise for this mistake, if you don't mind, we'd like to collect the item back",

4) The victim then allows the person to collect the item which seems logical at the time.

5) A large bill/Invoice comes in from whichever company the item was ordered from into the Victim's house asking to pay the amount of the ordered item.

6) The item apparently was ordered by a fraudulent person into the Victim's house (at random), who then collects the item leaving the Victim to pay the bill.

The advice the police give to any person that receives an unordered ("unsolicited") item is to contact the company it came from and ask them to collect it. If however you have taken delivery of an item which you have "given back" and you receive a bill/invoice, please report this to the police. This is a crime know as false representation.

 

Kevin, your response seems to make the most sense so far. I think contacting JC Nitwit and having them pick up the package is the way to go.

 

Lots of JCW's stuff is drop-shipped. Everything could be fine on JCW's books but at the company that drop-shipped it, things could be screwed up.

 

I will update you guys once I find out some more info. It's definitely a strange one.....

And Garry, it ain't the redhead. He'd be dead by now. LOL