Why does this scare me?

[MyOtherCarIsAPorsche]

I've just had five grey plastic packages, flat like envelopes, delivered. All similar size - about seven inches square. They all contain a couple of pages torn from catalogues, books, magazines - like someone's waste paper.

whats going on?

I've had a good laugh at some of the responses - it's definitely not blown out of my recycling bin although I do have a mad neighbour who fell through his neighbour's asbestos garage roof and has been hit with a huge bill to make good. He's now videoing anything and everything from his property in the hopes he can catch someone doing something they shouldn't be doing to possibly get some sort of revenge.

I don't think it's children - or relatives/friends. I can't see the point of paying five lots of postage. The items inside are not related to each other. Just torn pages folded into a particular size - not even folded in half neatly. One item is cardboard which has split when it was folded.

I'm keeping them in the hallway so that I can show the Evri lady when she next comes - it's even an excuse to order some yarn so she comes sooner and I can ask her.

I checked the bank account before I went out yesterday - nothing unexpected.

I hope it is just a one off, random thing and no repercussions. When my daughter suggested 'anthrax' she was joking. We've all watched that type of film. 😬

And indeed, nip screw is someone who never opens their wallet. The running joke in the family is what do you call H and FIL walking down the road?

A pair of tights.

Lol. I’ll never understand either why certain people immediately jump to the mentality of ‘notify your local police station IMMEDIATELY!’ 😅

This thread has made me realise how dramatic I am! As soon as I read the OP I was thinking "ok, what was on the leaflets? I hope we get pics so we can look for coded messages".

I clearly have an overactive imagination!

The scam explanation does seem quite plausible after reading all of the comments.

I would have thought if it was nieces/nephews then they'd have been sent with postage stamps not sent with Evri.

Definitely look on the Evri website and see if you can track it.

Either way it's definitely weird (even if it's not good material for an episode of a TV drama like i originally thought!)

So your husband is a prison officer? I would be concerned

Is it from some catty/bitchy neighbour or frienemy who thinks you need to do some diy/home improvements? They all seem to be related to that.

No her husband is not a prison officer, apparently "nip screw" means someone who is miserly.

Fucking hell. I hope you've got some good padding for your landing from that massive leap. 🙄

Yes, especially as the OP has already posted (at 11.33) that "nip screw is someone who never opens their wallet."

Oh my! That made lol a lot!

Ok. I've only ever seen screw as something like prison officer. I thought NIP might mean Northern Ireland prisons or something, and it fitted the random psycho story of torn up paper being sent

Update

I spoke to the Evri driver this morning and she said that she remembers delivering the packages and thinking that it was strange that they were all separate and not packed together. She's not delivered anything similar to anyone else. It must've cost the sender at least £10 to send these packages - five plastic envelopes.

I reported to action fraud and they rang to advise me to register with CIFAS in case fraudsters are using my address/details to obtain credit.

So it is a very common scam - so I've been informed.

Found out it's from Vinted - which I have never been registered with or had an account with. So I've no idea how my details have been connected with that company.

So watch out for unsolicited waste paper deliveries!

Thank you for the update @MyOtherCarIsAPorsche

Another update.

I had asked H to check the bank account for anything suspicious. He had said it looked ok. When I was looking through it a couple of days later I noticed 6 payments to Vinted (although there were 5 packages delivered) of just less than £30 each. I have never registered with this company or held an account. I rang my bank and told them the story and they refunded the payments within 24 hrs. They said that there had been lots of these reports within the week and that some banks were refusing to pay out to Vinted.

H didn't think that payments of around £30 looked suspicious.

Watch out for Vinted fraud whether a customer or not.

Thank you for the updates OP, and while it's really dodgy I'm glad it wasn't anything more disturbing than an every day scam, if you get where I'm coming from.

And I'm really grateful you posted about it as a friend of mine has been urging me to get on Vinted - I'm extremely wary of anything online tbh - and this has made me think my "paranoia" is justified! So, thank you for the heads up, so glad you got it resolved and that you're not out of pocket.

Wow! That’s worrying. Thanks for letting us know.

@MistressoftheDarkSide

we'll have to wait and see - been told to watch out for loans/mortgages/hire purchase being taken out with my details.

I can do without it.

Hmm, it sounds like someone has used your details to make purchases from their own account, a few small ones hoping you wouldn't notice, then posted the random crap to you so that the parcels are recorded as delivered to release the funds to them? Strange that they have your address and details though..

Oh Lord x That's worrying, I really hope that doesn't happen 🙏

Curse this digital age and the opportunity it gives for such crimes.

Sending solidarity x

Last second thought about how perpetrator of this could have got details… just remembered M&S & Co op etc. having cyber attacks?

And this is why I am reticent about Digital ID proposals....

Thank you for the updates.

This is so scary! Really hope nothing more gets taken out without your authorisation!

And how!
very well said, I do so agree, can’t really be too careful anymore???

@Catwalking

I thought about M&S - I have an account. Bank seemed to indicate that it coincided with me receiving a new bank card to replace an expiring one.

I’m v. sorry for you, that would make me quite apprehensive 🫤.
I have found banks quite reasonable assisting with these situations.
Except, when I ask for the answer to how did this 1 thing happen! obviously they can’t give away info willy-nilly but we want/need to protect ourselves (funnily enough!).

💐 many thanks for your updates, really hope you get proper solution to this situation ( just shows you were correct to be worried🙂)