AIBU to be suspicious of this letter?

[deedeemegadoodoo]

I live in a town in the a north of England (this is relevant). I have just received a letter with no name on the envelope but my address, 2nd class stamp, but no postal marks (possibly hand delivered?) Let’s say the address is 12 Garden Street, Town, Postcode.

Inside, the letter is typed…

“Dear Garden Street community

My royal mail package accidentally arrived at one of your homes and I would like to receive it back. Whoever returns it to me will receive a £50 reward as the contents of the letter are crucial to me.
My address is 12 Garden Street”

It then gives me a phone number and email address. The address in the typed note is my address, but postcode and town not mentioned.

Underneath is a further handwritten note. “If you receive letter from DVLA there is Irish passport name on passport xxxxx I will pick up if you receive.”

It then gives me a WhatsApp with the persons name. It is not an ‘English’ or Irish name (I know that any name is English / Irish if born there, I’m just giving this for context). The spelling and syntax suggests someone for whom English is not their first language.

Is this an innocent mistake or some sort of scam I’m not aware of? Should I be suspicious?

I have no idea but it sounds extremely dodgy. Unless you actually receive someone else's package or passport I think I would ignore

I'd ignore it and if you do receive post not for you , then just return it to sender. It sounds like either someone is trying to intercept someone's documents or is using a fake address /identity to obtain documents. Might be worth flagging the note with the non emergency police line as well.

Return to sender with a copy of the letter!

No idea OP but it sounds bizarre. If I received anyones DVLA or Passport documents I would return to sender regardless of any notes through the door. Any official documents have quite firm instructions on the back of the envelope about this.

I would bin the letter and ignore it.

We have not received any documents or letters with this persons name.

I would contact the police and ask for their advice. Someone might be creating a fraudulent identity using your address.

They have presumably left contact details on the letter in case their supposedly missing package turns up. Why would they also be expecting a passport at your address? That is not likely to be accidental.

Possibly there’s a history of post going to your street instead of theirs. Or it could be something dodgy. Just them using your address as theirs, i guess. But seeing as you haven’t received anything I don’t really see the problem.

If you do receive anything my response would depend on the address on the post. 12 Garden Avenue (ie not your address), postal mistake, so not dodgy

12 Garden Street (is your address = dodgy)

Sounds like a passport has gone missing and someone's worried, you could email or call them to inquire but seeing as you didn't receive the passport by mistake id ignore it

Might be a scam but sounds like someone's accidentally put the wrong address in for posting or the postie regularly sends it elsewhere and they just want it back.

@4PawsGood

Possibly there’s a history of post going to your street instead of theirs. Or it could be something dodgy. Just them using your address as theirs, i guess. But seeing as you haven’t received anything I don’t really see the problem.

If you do receive anything my response would depend on the address on the post. 12 Garden Avenue (ie not your address), postal mistake, so not dodgy

12 Garden Street (is your address = dodgy)

I’ve had a look to see if there is a similar address nearby. There is a ‘Garden Road’ in the next town, however their letter definitely gives the same address as me, ‘12 Garden Street’.

Initially I thought it was a pretty standard situation of something being misdelivered to a similar sounding street. But it sounds like the letter says the person with the lost item lives in your house?! That's really weird!

Unless you've moved in recently and they didn't change their address?

We’ve been here several years and know the previous owners (we occasionally get their post).

I just noticed they asked for their passport, but the letter is from DVLA. I wonder if they used the Passport for proof of ID for their driving licence or something?

This is definitely fraud. It's a way for the person to collect items they have fraudulently purchased whilst using an innocent member of public's address to go undetected.

The police always need to be notified in these instances. It helps them track the criminal behaviour.

I once had somebody send purchased items to my work address with my name (with slight mistakes) using stolen cards. I contacted the Etsy seller who sold the item and returned the item back to them and told them I wasn't the one who ordered and whoever it was did it fraudulently. I also know of people who have had post sent to their address with somebody else's name on it and they then come to that person's house to collect the goods. That way their criminal activity can't be traced.

Contact the police.

Someone else (the writer of this letter) is claiming their address is actually yours? ie: they say they live at 12 Garden Street, but YOU live at 12 Garden Street?

That does sound dodgy. I think I'd take it round to the local police station, or call them, and ask advice. I wouldn't call or otherwise contact whoever this person is.

I might however query whether any other very near neighbours received this letter as well?

@zingally

Someone else (the writer of this letter) is claiming their address is actually yours? ie: they say they live at 12 Garden Street, but YOU live at 12 Garden Street?

That does sound dodgy. I think I'd take it round to the local police station, or call them, and ask advice. I wouldn't call or otherwise contact whoever this person is.

I might however query whether any other very near neighbours received this letter as well?

The envelope has my address including postcode. The letter itself has my address but does not include the postcode, however, the do they live at that address. There are no other ‘12 Garden Streets’ locally but there are nationally. The envelope has a stamp (second class), but no postmark, so I can’t see where it has come from and looks more like it has been hand delivered.

Thanks all for your advice. I will contact the police.

Well it does sound dodgy to me.

then again after we moved we both notified the DVLA of our change of address. I got a new license sent to me but DH did not. After a few weeks we contacted them and they denied all knowledge of having received his request - despite the fact that it was sent in the same envelope as mine. Maybe it got binned with the envelope?

Anyhoo - he then had to pay for a replacement for his lost license and again told them of the change of address. A replacement license with the old address was sent to him at our new address!! it took 2 more tries to get them to get it right.

I've always wondered if the first time they did replace the license but sent it to the old address. which might be what's happened here.

It does sound dodgy. I wonder if they've sent their passport off to DVLA to get a driving licence issued to use as 'proof' of address at your address. So they can then use the DL with false address for something dodgy?

Definitely dodgy! YANBU, OP.

I’d say it’s dodgy. It would be my guess that something will turn up within the next week or so… They are using your address to commit fraud. They wouldn’t be able to chance the fact that something had already turned up, and you had sent it back to the original sender, so they are letting you know before it turns up, hoping you will think, ‘Oh look, here is that thing that person was asking about.’

@Piffle11

I’d say it’s dodgy. It would be my guess that something will turn up within the next week or so… They are using your address to commit fraud. They wouldn’t be able to chance the fact that something had already turned up, and you had sent it back to the original sender, so they are letting you know before it turns up, hoping you will think, ‘Oh look, here is that thing that person was asking about.’

Exactly this ^

You will probably receive something very soon. Do not respond to this letter. Return anything that arrives to sender.