100s packages delivered to my house! Please help me!

[LolaLouise]

Every day this week ive had 10-30 packages delivered. They are the small a6 plastic bag packages. Each one is addressed to a different person with addresses up and down the country but they will only have a name, street name and town. No house number or postcode. Each package has a royal mail sticker saying “incomplete address”. The return address is a company name that does not exist from my attempts to find it. The first line and town on the return address is for my home. Every package then has a different return post code, however the first part is always correct for my address. The packages say “paid and printed” from TikTok. They contain 2 of the foam peanut packaging things. And thats it. I opened a couple as they felt empty. Nothing else within them.

Its do weird and random, its making me feel uneasy and quite anxious. I have no idea how to make it stop.

Any ideas?

no aibu, posting here for traffic and hopefully a solution

I heard a Radio 4 programme the other week about this same thing, or very similar. I think it was ‘You and Yours’. In a nutshell, some people had bought a product on the internet and then found their address details had been taken and used as the customer service return address for another website. Basically to make those sites look bone fide with a UK address to people buying from those companies. (Based in China.) The reporter connected the dots and found that many of the people who had this happen to them had themselves ordered ‘comfortable shoes’ or ‘work trousers’ online and their details had been passed on, or sold on to other seemingly unrelated scam businesses. Some people got hundreds of ‘returned’ parcels, others had their home or mobile phone numbers posted on these sites as the customer service number and started to get hundreds of complaint calls. See if you can find the episode on BBC Sounds if this sounds similar.

Edit to say sorry, I didn’t read the full thread before posting, as I now see others have heard the same BBC programme and already posted links!

@MissSookieStackhouse ,there's a link to it upthread.

Op will not be liable for loans that are taken out by a 3rd party. It's nonsense.

Search your address on companies house to see if they have registered at your address too.

If your post man can't help.
Go down to your local sorting office and tell them what is happening.

They don't norrmaly list their local phone number but they do have very limited opening hours where the general public go to pick up post and parcels.

Also get in touch with your loca Council Trading Standards see if the can help.

Hope you can fix this palaver soon.
Must be very annoying.
🚛👎📮
x

I did read about a slightly different scam than the one in the You and Yours programme.... So someone orders a coat or whatever via Facebook/TikTok, paying with PayPal. The scammer sends out a poorly addressed parcel containing two packing peanuts that has the customer name, and first line of the address. The scammer knows the parcel won't reach the customer - it doesn't want it to as if it did, the customer would complain to PayPal, send photos of the packing peanuts and get their money back. The scammer doesn't care where the valueless parcel ends up, as long as it eventually gets marked as 'delivered' - it's just unfortunate they have got hold of the OPs partial address (probably as she has bought from them before - as per the You and Yours programme).

After a few weeks when the parcel hasn't arrived with the customer, the customer contacts PayPal and opens a dispute for non-delivery. The scammer responds to the dispute by uploading the tracking to PayPal. This shows the customer's name and part of the address, and also shows it was delivered. PayPal bots close the case in the scammers favour.

@Fernticket .... these people could be using your address to get fraudulent loans for the this 'company' which you could find yourself liable for.

How would that work, exactly?

This is so weird that I would report it to the police.
There might be a scam happening.

I work for Royal Mail. You need to contact customer services, they have a fraud team. Also if you can, go down to your local delivery office and explain the issue so they can stop their postman from taking them out on his walk and they can be marked off and either returned to sender or to Belfast NRC where unaddresed mail is sent

This is a ridiculous idea. Royal Mail are legally obliged to deliver mail (as are other companies where postage has been paid) The OP has a correct parcial address on the items so Royal Mail will try that address. How do Royal Mail know this is a scam if it hasnt been brought to their attention? Do you really think the police will arrest a postman for delivering mail 🤣

This.

Yes this is it, i had sa.e thing, just a piece of foam and I was sure it was for fake reviews.

This sounds like a scam. Someone has used your address to set up a business. Contact companies house and the police. There was an item on this on Radio 4 ‘scam secrets’ I can’t remember the full details but it’s happened quite a lot apparently.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002hb8x?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Doesn’t Mail get sorted by postcode first though?

Ha ha good luck getting through on that number! I’ve had a nightmare trying to speak to someone to sort a problem I’m having.

This has happened in my area, check your bank/credit cards to see if any payments have come out and contact Royal Mail and Tik Tok. Good luck

The postman is delivering packages to the address on the package. You DO NOT 'have a go' at the postman. You go to the sorting office and speak to a manager. Problem solved.

Report it to Action Fraud and your local police as well as Royal Mail. The fraud team can only act with information. You may not be the only one being victimised though this. It seems harmless but there is usually some nefarious motive behind it.

The return address on the parcel IS her address though

I thought this, They're getting 'returned to sender' every time though, because thedelivery dresses are incomplete. So they wouldn't get 'delivered' status

What's a brushing scam ?

Brushing Scams: What Are They and How Do They Work? | Security.org
(other explanations are available,@Steeleydan )

Why? They're not sending them, are they? Shouting at the first person you see is way way too common.
They should contact customer services.

Im really thick about how these scams work

If the parcel has the partial address of the customer on it, how is it ending up with OP? (or victim). When the scammer posts the tracking info to paypal, it wouldnt have the customers address on it surely, it would ahve the victims address on it?