USPS wants me to come pick up my package: *update*

Original thread here!

Ok so here's what happened in detail. I was on schedule to receive a reship from a very reputable vendor the day after I received the call. I was expecting the package to arrive the next day but lo and behold I received a phone call and answered it. The caller claimed to be with USPS and that my package failed to be delivered. They stressed that I had to go to the post office to pick it up or the package would be sent back. They would not arrange for redelivery. I recognized that this was all very weird and did not give any information before I hung up. Before I ended the call they stated my name which got me worried.

Now I was pretty worried and made up my mind that I would NOT go to the post office as it seemed like a setup. I thought about it a lot and many factors did not make sense:

If I was going to be arrested, why didn't they do a CD at my location?

Why would they be planning a setup when it was a very small personal amount of a drug?

How did USPS get my number and why would they even hint that something was abnormal if they intended to do something?

If it was USPS why was no redelivery notice left?

Users in the original thread suggested that it might be a scam and I spent a while reading about the key features. I never received fraudulent emails like many who had been attempted victims of the scam. The phone call was completely out of the blue which was odd. The entire thing began to completely fit the profile of the failure to deliver notification scam where they claim that unpaid postage is due. They may ask you for credit card or banking info the pay for it while on the phone. They may also proceed to ask you for confirmation of your social security # or banking info to verify your ID and confirm that it is really you who ordered the package.

After doing quite a bit of reading I started tracing the telephone number. It was registered to a large mobile phone provider, but I couldn't get much more info at first. Eventually I confirmed that it was a dummy phone number and that caller ID had been spoofed. I began calling the number from a phone not linked to me in any way. It took a few tries and I was redirected a few times, but eventually it led back to a shipping company. Fedex.

At this point I was relieved that I could confirm with near certainty that entire thing was a scam. I slept easy that night and spent the day waiting for my package. I received the reship the day after the call with no hassle. Just because I'm a paranoid fuck I wrote "Return to Sender" on the package and let it sit for a while before opening it.

My best guess is that my information was pieced together by data leaks from both USPS and IRS. Their security was majorly comprised in the last year. This reaffirmed a valuable lesson though. Don't bug out when shit goes down, try and keep a level head. Just be warned that this type of scam is making a comeback at this time. If you are an attempted victim of the scam, hopefully you do not get the call the day before a package arrives :)


Comments


[28 Points] tumblingdownthehole:

eventually it led back to a shipping company. Fedex.

... I could confirm with near certainty that entire thing was a scam.

Many USPS packages are carried mid-shipment by FedEx [1].

Your package could have just been misread by their sorter(s) or missed a FedEx->USPS carrier handoff for that day and thus flagged by the computer. Which seems much more plausible than someone targeting you via malware placed on FedEx servers to visit your local post office.

[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-04-23/fedex-to-fly-mail-for-postal-service-for-10-5-billion


[19 Points] Vendor_BBMC:

I think it was just the first "lost" package (for which you received a reship), and that it was waiting for you at the post office. Stop acting suspiciously, you crazy drug fiend and get your mail

If it was a scam, you would have been asked for money. If the police have your package, they would have kicked your door in at the crack of dawn to find your stash, rather than having a policeman hiding in the post office for a week, waiting to arrest you.

Either way, you should go to the post office to collect your package. So long as you don't pay anybody any money, you won't get scammed or arrested.

Imagine if it;s the unnaccounted-for first drug shipment. It will have a fake return address, eventually be opened, and drugs will be found in an envelope bearing your name and address.

You've got to think rationally if you are buying or selling drugs.


[8 Points] MLP_is_my_OPSEC:

The timing is fishy, they would have to know that you have a package on the way to pull this off. The fact that it was a DNM package leads me to believe that the vendor is selling buyer information... but I'm just speculating.


[4 Points] LedLevee:

So what kind of scams are these? you go pick up the package and they rob you? They charge you money or want your CC information to " confirm" your identity?


[2 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] SIDKITTEH:

You could definitely be right. A client I work with just told me she got a call saying that ups attempted to deliver something and she wasn't home. They would re-deliver it the next day but they need proof they were talking to the correct individual i.e. social security date of birth etc. It may have just been some crazy timing.