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An elderly woman who never orders anything online receives various packages. The police suspect two scams.
Of course, now that Christmas is around the corner, parcels usually make people happy and in a good mood. In the case of an 81-year-old woman from Zurich, it was more of a source of anger and uncertainty. A few weeks ago she received three packages out of the blue. Sender: The mail order company Zalando. “I received glasses, a tracksuit and a dress,” she says in the SRF consumer magazine “Espresso”.
Parcels without an order – invoices without goods
She is amazed, because she has not ordered anything and generally does not buy online. “I’d rather go to the store.” So she sends back the unwanted goods. When two more packages arrive, she refuses to accept them. But there are more packages coming, as well as invoices and reminders. Including an invoice from an online jewelry store for goods that she never received.
The eerie wave of packages leaves them at a loss. You have no idea who or what could be behind it: “I am puzzled.” She reports her problem to the nearest police station in her quarters. The first thing they recommend to her there is not to pay anything. If you didn’t order anything, you don’t have to pay anything.
Parcel theft and «brushing» possible
The woman acted correctly, says Marc Surber, media spokesman for the Zurich city police on request. Such reports are valuable clues to track down scammers. Based on initial findings, the police suspect that two scams could be at play here. Package theft: The crooks order packages on behalf of their victims to their or another address and intercept the deliveries.
The second stitch: the so-called «brushing». The fraudsters misuse hijacked customer data to place numerous orders on behalf of those affected and then generate numerous fake positive reviews in the background.
“Case closed”
But there seems to be no interest in clarifying the case. At least Zalando does not respond at all to corresponding requests from “Espresso”. And the online jeweler involved only wrote on request that the case had not been pursued, that it was closed.
In general, of course, the clarification of such cases of fraud does not make it any easier if the senders of the unwanted packages are not interested, says the police spokesman. Also, the backers are often located somewhere abroad and there one is dependent on the cooperation of the responsible authorities in order to be able to apprehend them.
After all: Not least because the police got involved in the present case, the 81-year-old has not received any further invoices or reminders to date. She instructed the post office not to deliver any more parcels to her.
The police say Zalando has meanwhile filed a complaint against unknown persons. Online jewellery, on the other hand, is not. You keep at it.