The new mobile phone scam delivering a problem

[Chippy_Tea]

I wonder how many have fallen for the latest scam, would you?



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49450485

A brand new top-of-the-range phone is delivered to your door. The package has your name on it but you don't remember ordering it.

There is another knock at the door and a courier asks for the phone back explaining: "We delivered it by mistake."

Would you hand it over? If you do, it could prove to be an expensive mistake.

It is a scam and yet another way that sophisticated thieves try to rip us off.

"Delivery scams are just one of the increasingly sophisticated methods fraudsters are using to leave victims out of pocket," warned Adam French, Which? consumer rights expert.

Tricking you
The scam involves crooks ordering and then attempting to intercept - or trick you into handing over - high-value packages.

It usually happens when criminals somehow manage to get hold of your personal details to place the order.

It can be one consequence of identity theft, for instance.

• 'My mother lost £14,000 in a direct debit fraud'
• Scam victims to be refunded by banks
• Number spoofing crackdown to prevent fraud

If the crooks fail to intercept the delivery in the street, they often pose as a courier and try to collect the "wrongly delivered" item from your house.

One victim, who did not want to be named, told the BBC: "After it happened to us, we were worried about how someone was able to get so far in ordering a phone in our name.

"We were also worried that it could impact our credit rating, as we were buying a house."

 

[DavidDetroit]

I open all packages received immediately. If I see I ddn't order it, I would call the company that sent it.

However, I could see myself handing over a package to a scammer under various circumstances (prior to this article) if I didn't sense there was something shady going on.