Received a scam parcel and a visit requesting it back

[Scamparcelreceiver]

Walked out the door this afternoon to find a parcel on doorstep addressed to DH. When I came back an hour later he’s on the phone to the police as in the parcel was a phone.

after a few of telephone calls we know an account was opened with a catalogue company. All they had was DH name. The item is worth £400.

a bit later (while I wasn’t here again) a man came to the door and said he was recovering a parcel that was delivered in error. DH told him he knew nothing about it and he left but DH could hear a woman on the mobile phone of the man saying “tell him you’ll be back later and he better bloody have it” in an aggressive tone.

we have been told to ring 999 if they come back.

we’ve locked the side gate and drawn the curtains but I’m a little anxious tbh, we won’t open the door.

do they come back? Or do they realise they were caught out and won’t bother. If I hadn’t have gone out they’d picked it up without our knowledge.

I’m here tomorrow on my own and not looking forward to it.

Chancers. If they come back just ignore the door, Mumsnet style. Do you have ring doorbell? A screenshot to the police would be good.

they wont come back, they know they have been busted...

That would unnerve me too. Yes they could break in. I would just (through the door) say the police are involved and told you to return it to the shop and the shop picked it up - the end. Take a picture of whoever turns up. Have you got cctv?

I had that and they didn't come back - tbh I didn't have it when they knocked as they arrived 10 minutes before dpd!

I’m sorry I just laughed at the grim humour: you’re describing something truly frightening and MN says “Interested in this thread ? Then you might like this- General Shopping “. It’s hard to think of anything less appropriate.

No cctv but I think we will be getting some now.

As much as I would love having a bit of fun giving these scammers the run around you never really know who they are. Perhaps informing the police have already collected it will be enough to never hear from them again.

I’m going to ring neighbour across the road and he’s going to take some discreet pictures through his upstairs window. Police told us not to open the door and asked us to ring them.

Get all your neighbours involved, both sides. They can look out and they will also learn not to get scammed too, not everyone knows this ruse.

or your dh has ordered it and got busted ?

Something similar happened to us. Our neighbours bought a second hand phone on eBay. The eBay seller sent us - a slightly different number in the same street - a small empty box but tracked delivery.

They then showed the tracking info to neighbour and eBay to say that the phone had been delivered.

We then had angry neighbour knocking on our door asking for their phone back but luckily I had kept the fake parcel. It was all pretty stressful as the neighbour was a bit of a scary person.

How does this scam work? It sounds very unpleasant! Glad you have neighbours you can trust and that the police sound like they have been being helpful. I hope that don't come back tbh!

Hardly chancers, sounds like a well planned fraud.
Hope they don't come back 🤞

I'm amazed that anyone left a phone on the doorstep. Usually it's a signed for/tracked delivery.

Why would he be phoning the police before the OP even knew about it then?

They buy with a stolen credit card but send it to someone else’s address or as in OP case they order off a catalogue with credit in op real details and it goes to the real op address and name. They pick it up from them, saying it is mistakenly delivered there, they rely on confusion or politeness of the homeowner.

Op dh needs to check his credit report regularly now and go on MSE for tips like a password on an credit taken out.

thats actually a very good point? although it says a catalogue account was opened and presumable a phone worth £400 was ordered and sent.. it might not be a mobile phone, i think we have all assumed that.. it might be a very fancy answer machine type thing?

"Walked out the door this afternoon to find a parcel on doorstep addressed to DH. "

Exactly, she walked out and had no idea what was in it and while she was out the husband phoned the police. What about that suggests he ordered it?

it’s all very odd, because our normal Delivery lady always knocks and then leaves our stuff round by the side gate so I don’t think she brought it.

actually I’ve just packed it up to go back, DH told me it was a phone and I only glanced at the box but its not a phone, tbh I’m not sure what it is, some sort of camera, video etc. but in a mobile phone sized box. The catalogue company said it was £400.

the catalogue company asked me if I would mind returning it to a shop to send it back as she thinks if they send someone to get it it could then be collected by someone in on the scam. I’m going to another town on Wednesday and sending it back from there.

honestly i dont know, im just guessing

if its in DH's name... why is the catalogue company speaking to you?? i accept that fraudsters have opened an account in DH's name etc.. but they would still only speak to him!

Thanks, that makes sense of how they bought it.

fortunately although we are older generation DH loves a bit of Rip off Britain and as I gave it to him as I was leaving (he’d said ‘I haven’t ordered anything’ - which I know is true cos he always mucks it up and I have to sort it out so he’s banned from ordering stuff, because he had two Amazon’s accounts and kept getting two of everything) I said almost jokingly beware if it’s a scam and don’t give it to anyone who calls knocking.

The way it worked when they tried to scam me was that they called me on my phone claiming to be from Three offering a good deal on a SIM only contract with a tablet as a free gift. I fell for it and signed up. What they did was sign me up for a genuine Three contract with the most expensive iPhone. Three delivered the IPhone the next day and the scammers then rang me saying that they had made a mistake and sent me the iPhone instead of the tablet. They said that they had arranged for the phone to be collected the next day and the correct tablet would be despatched at the same time.

Luckily I mentioned it to my husband who was aware of the scam. I rang Three and explained what had happened. They cancelled the contract and I sent the phone back them direct. The scammers weren’t happy as they didn’t get £1000+ of iPhone but I have heard no more.

Gosh, hadn’t heard of that one.

DH’s credit checking company did send an email the other day about something which now makes sense so if that happens again we’ll be more aware.