Reshipping or Parcel Mule Scams

Job seekers, beware of work-from-home job offers that claim that you can easily make money reshipping items or goods. Scammers are tricking persons, especially those desperately looking for jobs to earn extra money, into reshipping items or goods that they have bought with stolen cards.

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Reshipping or Parcel Mule Scams

How the Reshipping or Parcel Mule Scams Work

  1. Scammers recruit their victims (mules) by posting their fake job offers on job recruiting websites, in online advertisements, or in bulk email messages. These job posts and email messages may use names of legitimate companies in order to make the scam more convincing.
  2. The victims are hired by the scammers and then given instructions on what to do.
  3. The scammers then go online and purchase expensive goods or items with the stolen cards that they got from other victims, who they have tricked into entering the information on fake or phishing websites, or infected their computers with a Trojan horse, which they use to spy on them from anywhere around the world.
  4. The purchased items or goods are then shipped to the mules’ home addresses.
  5. The mules’ then repackage the items or goods and then reship them to the addresses in other countries given to them by the scammers.
  6. Once the scammers receive the items or goods, they will sell them for cash. This is how scammers convert stolen cards into cash.
  7. If the police discover the scams, they will trace it back to the victims (mules), who will get arrested.

If you were tricked into one of these scams, please stop immediately and do not be afraid to contact your local authority and explain your circumstances to them. It will be foolish to wait for the police to trace the scam back to you.

Parcel Mule or Reshipping scam is an indirect form of money laundering, since the shipped goods are re-sold.

Here are Some Samples of the Reshipping Email Scam:

WANTED! Packaging processing manager needed (Job #1852)

MAIL PACKAGES from home without leaving your current job. Easy! Ship parcels from our clients. Get paid $24 per parcel.info at our corporate Web site:


Subject: Job opening

Hello !

Please, have glance at the following proposal.

Picknship incorporated has opened the position of a delivery employee.in the event you have read this letter, that means the online recruiting department administrators have seen your resume online, because our recruitment department is looking for job applicants on the web. Picknship incorporated inc is a European company which is located in Poland (Warsaw). This firm provides retail trade and forwarding of numerous products (mostly modern electronics equipment) and selling it to European clients. We have been quite prosperous in this sphere since 2005.


Subject: We have reviewed your resume on CareerBuilder

Good day,

We have found your Curriculum Vitae via Careerbuilder job-site. At the moment we expand our business to the USA territory and can offer you a position of Transportation Manager.

The position is mostly about accepting, repacking and sending parcels with the help of the Postal Service all over the world. It’s a work at home job and does not require any start-up costs.

You do not need to relocate and can do this job from a comfort of your home.

The Transportation Manager duties consist of:

Step 1: You receive parcels at your address.

Step 2: You should report to the supervisor about parcels delivered;

Step 3: You should do repackaging according to supervisor instructions;

Step 4: You will receive a prepaid shipping labels to mail the package out

Step 5: You should affix the shipping label provided by your supervisor to the parcel and drop it off at the nearest post-office.

Check the comment section below for additional information, share what you know, or ask a question about this article by leaving a comment below. And, to quickly find answers to your questions, use our search Search engine.

Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.

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Comments, Questions, Answers, or Reviews

Comments (Total: 2)

To protect your privacy, please remove sensitive or identifiable information from your comments, questions, or reviews. We will use your IP address to display your approximate location to other users when you make a post. That location is not enough to find you.

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December 29, 2014 at 4:43 PM by
Reshipping or Parcel Mule Scams
an anonymous user from: Richardson, Texas, United States

I have received an email & even sent my agreement, should I give the info I have to local authorities?

Delete

December 29, 2014 at 6:26 PM by
Reshipping or Parcel Mule Scams
info

Yes, give it to the local authorities.

Delete

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Online Threat Alerts Security Tips

Pay the safest way

Credit cards are the safest way to pay for online purchases because you can dispute the charges if you never get the goods or services or if the offer was misrepresented. Federal law limits your liability to $50 if someone makes unauthorized charges to your account, and most credit card issuers will remove them completely if you report the problem promptly.

Guard your personal information

In any transaction you conduct, make sure to check with your state or local consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see if the seller, charity, company, or organization is credible. Be especially wary if the entity is unfamiliar to you. Always call the number found on a website’s contact information to make sure the number legitimately belongs to the entity you are dealing with.

Be careful of the information you share

Never give out your codes, passwords or personal information, unless you are sure of who you're dealing with

Know who you’re dealing with

Crooks pretending to be from companies you do business with may call or send an email, claiming they need to verify your personal information. Don’t provide your credit card or bank account number unless you are actually paying for something and know who you are sending payment to. Your social security number should not be necessary unless you are applying for credit. Be especially suspicious if someone claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account asks for information that the business already has.

Check your accounts

Regularly check your account transactions and report any suspicious or unauthorised transactions.

Don’t believe promises of easy money

If someone claims that you can earn money with little or no work, get a loan or credit card even if you have bad credit, or make money on an investment with little or no risk, it’s probably a scam. Oftentimes, offers that seem too good to be true, actually are too good to be true.

Do not open email from people you don’t know

If you are unsure whether an email you received is legitimate, try contacting the sender directly via other means. Do not click on any links in an email unless you are sure it is safe.

Think before you click

If an email or text message looks suspicious, don’t open any attachments or click on the links.

Verify urgent requests or unsolicited emails, messages or phone calls before you respond

If you receive a message or a phone call asking for immediate action and don't know the sender, it could be a phishing message.

Be careful with links and new website addresses

Malicious website addresses may appear almost identical to legitimate sites. Scammers often use a slight variation in spelling or logo to lure you. Malicious links can also come from friends whose email has unknowingly been compromised, so be careful.

Secure your personal information

Before providing any personal information, such as your date of birth, Social Security number, account numbers, and passwords, be sure the website is secure.

Stay informed on the latest cyber threats

Keep yourself up to date on current scams by visiting this website daily.

Use Strong Passwords

Strong passwords are critical to online security.

Keep your software up to date and maintain preventative software programs

Keep all of your software applications up to date on your computers and mobile devices. Install software that provides antivirus, firewall, and email filter services.

Update the operating systems on your electronic devices

Make sure your operating systems (OSs) and applications are up to date on all of your electronic devices. Older and unpatched versions of OSs and software are the target of many hacks. Read the CISA security tip on Understanding Patches and Software Updates for more information.

What if You Got Scammed?

Stop Contact With The Scammer

Hang up the phone. Do not reply to emails, messages, or letters that the scammer sends. Do not make any more payments to the scammer. Beware of additional scammers who may contact you claiming they can help you get your lost money back.

Secure Your Finances

  • Report potentially compromised bank account, credit or debit card information to your financial institution(s) immediately. They may be able to cancel or reverse fraudulent transactions.
  • Notify the three major credit bureaus. They can add a fraud alert to warn potential credit grantors that you may be a victim of identity theft. You may also want to consider placing a free security freeze on your credit report. Doing so prevents lenders and others from accessing your credit report entirely, which will prevent them from extending credit:

Check Your Computer

If your computer was accessed or otherwise affected by a scam, check to make sure that your anti-virus is up-to-date and running and that your system is free of malware and keylogging software. You may also need to seek the help of a computer repair company. Consider utilizing the Better Business Bureau’s website to find a reputable company.

Change Your Account Passwords

Update your bank, credit card, social media, and email account passwords to try to limit further unauthorized access. Make sure to choose strong passwords when changing account passwords.

Report The Scam

Reporting helps protect others. While agencies can’t always track down perpetrators of crimes against scammers, they can utilize the information gathered to record patterns of abuse which may lead to action being taken against a company or industry.

Report your issue to the following agencies based on the nature of the scam:

  • Local Law Enforcement: Consumers are encouraged to report scams to their local police department or sheriff’s office, especially if you lost money or property or had your identity compromised.
  • Federal Trade Commission: Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or use the Online Complaint Assistant to report various types of fraud, including counterfeit checks, lottery or sweepstakes scams, and more.
  • Identitytheft.gov: If someone is using your personal information, like your Social Security, credit card, or bank account number, to open new accounts, make purchases, or get a tax refund, report it at www.identitytheft.gov. This federal government site will also help you create your Identity Theft Report and a personal recovery plan based on your situation. Questions can be directed to 877-ID THEFT.

How To Recognize a Phishing Scam

Scammers use email or text messages to try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. If they get that information, they could get access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Or they could sell your information to other scammers. Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks like these every day — and they’re often successful.

Scammers often update their tactics to keep up with the latest news or trends, but here are some common tactics used in phishing emails or text messages:

Phishing emails and text messages often tell a story to trick you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment. You might get an unexpected email or text message that looks like it’s from a company you know or trust, like a bank or a credit card or utility company. Or maybe it’s from an online payment website or app. The message could be from a scammer, who might

  • say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts — they haven’t
  • claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information — there isn’t
  • say you need to confirm some personal or financial information — you don’t
  • include an invoice you don’t recognize — it’s fake
  • want you to click on a link to make a payment — but the link has malware
  • say you’re eligible to register for a government refund — it’s a scam
  • offer a coupon for free stuff — it’s not real

About Online Threat Alerts (OTA)

Online Threat Alerts or OTA is an anti-cybercrime community that started in 2012. OTA alerts the public to cyber crimes and other web threats.

By alerting the public, we have prevented a lot of online users from getting scammed or becoming victims of cybercrimes.

With the ever-increasing number of people going online, it important to have a community like OTA that continuously alerts or protects those same people from cyber-criminals, scammers and hackers, who are every day finding new ways of carrying out their malicious activities.

Online users can help by reporting suspicious or malicious messages or websites to OTA. And, if they want to determine if a message or website is a threat or scam, they can use OTA's search engine to search for the website or parts of the message for information.

Help maintain Online Threat Alerts (OTA).

Reshipping or Parcel Mule Scams