Is this a scam?

[LittleEntrepeneur]

In the run up to Christmas, I ordered a few presents online for DD. As they arrived, we hid them away and unboxed and wrapped them when we got the opportunity then discreetly disposed of the boxes. DH and I didn’t buy presents for each other or DS online so all were DD’s.

On Christmas morning, DD opened all her gifts that we had bought her. However, one of the gifts clearly wasn’t for her. It was a very expensive item for an adult. To begin with, I thought DH had bought it for me, but he just looked blankly at me and said he hadn’t bought it. He did remember wrapping it, however. It is not clear from the box what was inside so that kind of makes sense.

I Googled said item and it was worth more money than DH would ever pay. It was a truly luxury item.

I put in a cupboard and forgot about it. Then last week when we were out, a woman knocked at our door saying that the parcel was hers. DS didn’t let her in but did take her number.

I called her when I got home and asked her which address it should have been sent to. Her address is miles away from us! How could this happen? Could it be a scam? How did they even get our address?

I’m happy to hand over the parcel but I am feeling very uneasy about it.

@NerrSnerr We had no idea where it had come from. And what it is is entirely irrelevant.

Hmm weird situation, if I knew I had received something expensive which I had not ordered or paid for I would have arranged its return straight away. That is where your problem started.

Cross post, but still don't quite understand how this all happened

@Roystonv Return to who? OP says they don’t know where the item came from.

@Roystonv

Hmm weird situation, if I knew I had received something expensive which I had not ordered or paid for I would have arranged its return straight away. That is where your problem started.

And exactly how would you have done that? I am trying to see what I could have done differently given that I didn’t know where it had come from as this brand is stocked in different shops across the country.

People just aren't reading are they.
OP said it came in a box and she doesn't know where it came from! How could she sent it back?!

Thanks @Justanotherfaceinthecrowd 😁.

As a few people have said already, now that you have the delivery note, it's must state the company it came from, so contact them.

Like others have said, it's strange that she had your address? The only scam I could think would be if it was some kind of credit card fraud and your address was used as the delivery point?

I ordered something before Christmas and accidentally sent it to my old address, I haven’t lived there in 6 years. Could it be the same?

I’m struggling to see how it could be a scam tbh

This is a scam, I've heard of it and had it happen to my MILs neighbour

There should be a supplier name or returns address on the delivery note. If it was paid via paypal then she may well gave claimed a refund and now wants the item.

You could check your credit rating.
If it's a scam you may get communications from the sellers soon if they've not been paid.

I would just give it too her. If you dont know where it came from & its been sitting in your house since before Christmas what else are you going to do with it?. You have her adresess so I presume also her name if anyone comes looking for it.

Why do people always go on about how they would have made an effort to send it back? I wouldn’t - not my problem that it was sent to me, couldn’t be bothered to put that effort into finding the actual owner or resending it - it’s such a hassle.

We have received 4 Amazon deliveries now for our address, correct postcode but the name on the parcels is not ours. Nobody on our street with that name, we’ve asked.
We contacted Amazon who said we should just keep the contents. But I don’t understand why this keeps happening - surely the purchaser would check why his orders haven’t arrived? Nobody has come to the door to collect them, so I don’t see how it could be a scam.

Did you have the delivery note this afternoon when you first posted? They normally have the company's name on.

I'd say bought with stolen credit cards and sent to the wrong address bon purpose. But she waited a suslicioly long time to claim it. Unless you're not home much during the day and she already tried?

I assume that the item was in a delivery box and also an inner box. Clearly the DH took it out of the cardboard outer and wrapped the inner box (which seems to be unmarked). Real lack of curiosity not even wondering what he was wrapping, but I can easily imagine a man doing that.

It may not be a scam. DS ordered something and when it hadn't arrived 2 weeks after it was due he contacted the vendor who confirmed it had been delivered to the wrong address (10 doors down). They told DS to go and knock on the door and ask for it. The difference here is that it was still in it's packaging with his name on it so there was no question.

It's almost certainly a scam - how else could she possibly have got your address? Companies don't just hand them out for customers to sort issues out themselves. Screenshots and even paper documents can be easily forged.

I'd ask for the name of the company as well as an order number, then contact them (having Googled their actual contact details rather than ringing any number the woman gives you) to explain what's happened and let them arrange collection at their cost (and your convenience if necessary). If this woman won't give it to you then yup, definitely a scam. I'd probably leave it in a cupboard to see what happened and if nothing did then I'd give it to charity.

I wouldn't bother with too much effort over it though - if it's been genuinely mis-delivered, the woman needs to take it up with the company and they need to sort it out.

It could have been bought with a stolen credit card which is why she used a random address and has now turned up out of the blue to get it. I'd say I sent it back/binned it and then give it to charity tbh.

On the off-chance the screen print doesn't include the company, you can email her and ask her for it.
Contact the company to find out what happened.
Definitely don't give it to her.