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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get annoyed with being used as a postbox

166 replies

Hothammock · 12/05/2021 05:02

About 2 months ago we started getting post for a name who doesn't live at my property, has never lived at my property. Conscious of the risk of fraud I kept a record of the company it was from and then did 'return to sender not at this address' and shoved it back in the postbox.

About a week later, a woman turned up to say she was a relative of a lady a few doors down and to ask if we were getting Mail for someone else. She got DH at the door who wasn't aware of the letter I had returned so he said no. She told DH that when the mail comes he should give it to their relative x neighbour and explained her own husband had set up a redirect and changed all his banking details etc to the wrong address-our house rather than their relatives house down the street.

I thought this was all a bit odd especially as the woman wasn't claiming to be the person on the letter, and it wasn't my neighbour coming to explain this, for all we knew it was a random stranger.

After this we started getting loads more post and some with redirected stickers on. Basically someone had set up a redirect with Royal mail to our house. It says it lasts to October 2021 on the envelopes!

We now get more mail for this person than for ourselves.

The woman hasn't been seen since and I haven't seen my neighbour either-she works shifts and hasn't made any effort to speak to me etc about this. She is a nice friendly lady and we chat maybe 2 or 3 times a year if we bump into each other on our street. She lives alone and is in the process of selling her house so the story of a relative redirecting post there until October doesn't add up anyway!

Aibu to shove it all back in the postbox as not at this address? I am really irritated about this random woman's husband using my address whether it's an accident or not, she doesn't seem to be doing anything to correct her mistake and surely I shouldn't just be handing over post addressed to x man to a random woman claiming to be connected to a neighbour. They do not even live at the neighbours house either.

OP posts:
GlassBoxSpectacular · 13/05/2021 19:05

I know its breaking the law but I opened a bank letter and a building society letter and phoned the companies concerned to explain the situation....which yes I know is illegal.

This is a myth (and I’m amazed it’s taken ( pages for it to surface Grin).

It’s an offence to open someone’s mail with the intent to deprive/defraud/compromise them. It’s not an offence if you’re mistakenly receiving mail at your address for someone who doesn’t live there. How else can you resolve it, unless you know who is sending it and why?

minniemomo · 13/05/2021 19:07

Email Royal Mail

Davros · 13/05/2021 19:09

booksandnooks has it

Toomuchtrouble4me · 13/05/2021 19:12

It sounds dodgy but I cant understsnd why you haven’t sought out the elderly neighbour (who also works shifts?) to confirm or deny.

rosesandbees · 13/05/2021 19:18

I had this problem with someone using my address to set up a bank account and using the overdraft. I sent back 5 statements return to sender never known at this address and still got more. In the end I opened one and rang up the bank explained everything and took all the additional letters to a local branch. It was a fraudulent account but by taking the letters to the bank it stopped it and we didn’t get anymore. I would also consider ringing 101 and just talking to the police to see if this is a crime. Very odd to be redirecting and then sending direct mail too. Good luck I hope you sort it.

Kokosrieksts · 13/05/2021 19:21

Sorry, I’ve not read any answers, just wanted to say that we once redirected our mail to a different address which was very simple to do online. We were away for 6 months, but had paid for a full year. When we needed to cancel it, it was a massive pain in the backside. Online options didn’t work, trying to call the actual post office also didn’t work. Eventually a sensible postman managed to sort it for us when he noticed that we are back in the address, but none of the mail was getting to us. So it can be a bit tricky.

tommyhoundmum · 13/05/2021 19:37

Cross out your address and write return to sender not at this address or similar. Then keep an eye on your credit rating.

Weareallvirgins · 13/05/2021 19:44

NOT AT THIS ADDRESS. POP IT IN THE POST BOX. IFSHE COMES BACK TELL HER ITS SENT BACK

rainbowbear10 · 13/05/2021 19:54

id go to your local sorting office and get them to sort it out or speak to the person its to go to and get them to change the redirection address.

HopeForTheBestExpectTheWorst · 13/05/2021 19:55

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn on request of the poster.

Toothdrama · 13/05/2021 19:58

Unfortunately writing return to sender etc on the envelope doesnt always work.

Companies have to use the address they have been given to cover themselves until they have proof of a different address. Otherwise an aggrieved partner could shove their partners post back in the letter box in a hope they never get it.

Also when many companies receive mail the post room remove it from the envelope and scan it in to forward to the right department but it wont always have the envelope as well so the department have no clue why its come back.

When I had this with dvla I phoned them and while recording the call they gave me permission to open the mail and tell them what it said so they could sort it.

I would recommend opening the letter and writing on the letter that the person is not known at that address and possibly phoning the company if you are getting multiple letters. However as above the bank cant take your word for It that you arent an annoyed partner or upset person trying to cause havoc with someone else's accounts and post out of spite

Also contact action fraud and the police they may be able to give some suggestions on what you can do to stop mail.

5 years on and the previous owner of our house still has the odd junk mail. They never did a mail re direct and we had so much post in the early days it was really irritating

HarebrightCedarmoon · 13/05/2021 20:01

I know its breaking the law but I opened a bank letter and a building society letter and phoned the companies concerned to explain the situation....which yes I know is illegal. It worked though and the official stuff stopped coming. If anything is delivered while you are there then you can refuse it and yes go and speak to the post office

It isn't illegal. I'd open every letter and print a standard letter to send to each company to tell them that person does not live at this address.

LondonMiss · 13/05/2021 20:15

@Pottedpalm that’s not as odd as it seems! I had someone pretend to buy my apartment for months to get his children in the local very highly regarded school

angela99999 · 13/05/2021 20:39

When you set up a redirect the Post Office send a letter to your old address and I think to the new one. You should take great care, they could be running up debts from your address, opening credit card or bank accounts. Certainly dont pass on.mail, it could be credit cards or correspondence from financial institutions.

TheChineseChicken · 13/05/2021 20:51

Most annoying thread ever

Bernardo1 · 13/05/2021 21:16

Burn everything. That simple.

TopBlogger · 13/05/2021 21:29

@TheChineseChicken

Most annoying thread ever
Yet here you are, clicking on it, reading, and posting on it Hmm
Original poster
Hothammock · 13/05/2021 22:06

Still no one in today at the neighbours house... (not elderly, as someone assumed up thread). Her car isn't at the house everyday so it's even possible she is living else where. Making it even more odd that someone would redirect mail there.
I will give it to next week and then contact royal mail. Something interesting might arrive in the meantime...

OP posts:
memberofthewedding · 13/05/2021 22:07

If anyone turns up at your door (eg debt collectors, bailiffs etc) give them the redirect address you have discovered in London and tell them its a forwarding address. Dont bother with the "mysterious neighbour" who is supposed to have contacted you and has not.

Something similar happened to me many years ago when I moved into a BTL house. The former tenant had gone bankrupt and I had debt collectors at the door. I showed them ID and re-directed them to the LL who lived in the next street. I also took some mail for them round to her house and told her she had to sort it out as I would be binning the rest. She inadvertently let slip their new address which I then passed on to the next lot of debt collectors. It was only a few streets away!

I have some sympathy with people who have gone bankrupt because it could happen to anyone. However they attempted to involve me in their fraud to conceal resources from their Trustee in Bankruptcy,

riceuten · 13/05/2021 22:08

I've had an amount of fun with this issue.

I moved into an address in Walthamstow where there were multiple bailiffs turning up weekly for water, gas, electricity, catalogue, you name it. Some of them were really pushy and one of them refused to call me by my name and called me Mr McDermott (the name of the debtor) and said "if I could just step inside and discuss the issue". I knew he was going to distrain and confiscate goods if I did. I had to sit and wait till he got bored in his car and drove off, and he returned numerous times. Eventually, I rang the company concerned and they called the dogs off, as they could see there was a debt free account running along side the money they were trying to reclaim at the same address!

The dodgier one I had when I moved to where I live now from Chingford. Someone ordered some catalogue goods in my name and didn't pay for them. The redirect only applied to the bills, last warnings and Bailiff's letters. The catalogue company were awful and were preparing to take me to court and more or less said I had to prove I DIDN'T receive the goods. How would I do that ?

Where I live now.... I received a VERY expensive mobile (£600+) delivered by a courier, which, much to his vexation, I refused. I was aware of the scam, which goes something like this. The person gets your name and address and guesses (or knows) your date of birth. They go to a catalogue company like GUS and order the phone (sometimes the company’s “credit check” is such that they just confirm I live at the address.) About 20 minutes later, the person who actually ordered the goods in my name (or an agent of theirs) turns up, claiming to be a representative of the same courier company, thinking I have accepted the cellphone, claiming that they’ve made a wrong delivery, and can they have it back? He even produced a fake PDA. He was extremely and visibly annoyed that I had turned the courier away. I slam the door in his face. I ring the company concerned who tell me that I have indeed “ordered” a mobile phone, and we go through the rigamarole of closing down my non-existent GUS account.

A couple of years later I had a similar experience with Amazon. Somebody ordered some goods in to my address but not my name and hoped they would be left at my back door — this is what they usually do. They observe the arrival of the courier and then pick the goods up from the back step. Sadly, for them, I was working at home that day, and accepted the goods (because I was expecting a parcel), but realised on opening them I hadn’t ordered the (very expensive) contents. I spoke to Amazon, who emailed me a label for a return. I actually printed and dispatched it the same day. The person who hoped to collect it from my back step then turned up (different guy from above!) and ranted that I had “stolen his parcel”. “No”, I said, “I’ve returned it to Amazon — why did you order it to my address?”. “Because I knew you would be in!”. Yeah, right. I suspect they were ordered using a “moody” credit card.

coffeefi · 13/05/2021 22:26

How is this person gaining anything by re-directing their mail to you

I don't understand? They're not putting your address down as their own, they're asking Royal Mail to divert mail? So they're not opening accounts and using your address otherwise they'd be putting your address down in the first place? Iyswim

What can a fraudster achieve?

coffeefi · 13/05/2021 22:31

If you're getting official bank letters and bills mailed to you direct, you need to inform the police

GlassBoxSpectacular · 13/05/2021 22:54

I will give it to next week and then contact royal mail.

Why next week? Confused

Something interesting might arrive in the meantime...

Oh! Because you’re loving the ‘drama’ of it.

GlassBoxSpectacular · 13/05/2021 22:55

@coffeefi

How is this person gaining anything by re-directing their mail to you

I don't understand? They're not putting your address down as their own, they're asking Royal Mail to divert mail? So they're not opening accounts and using your address otherwise they'd be putting your address down in the first place? Iyswim

What can a fraudster achieve?

You should reread the OP’s posts.
Serin · 13/05/2021 23:17

Honestly this is dodgy as hell. They can use those official letters as proof of address for any number of things including applying for benefits or student finance. They are using you as a drop box, what will they have delivered next? Drugs?