Scammer?

[sja999]

Hi

i see a lot about scam addresses in Wilmington DE. I just had a sale come though for Newport DE with a buyer whose name is complete gobbledygook (GFEQY LKMN, for example). The address is in an industrial park and the few companies I can see at that location don’t seem to be reshippers. I have had no contact with the buyer, but this seems very fishy to me. What happens if I cancel the sale, refund the purchase and then resist it? Buyer has a purchase history of 6 items in the last few months, but the account opened in 2019. Thoughts?

[schloopertz]

Agree! Agree! 

I have had issues with freight forwarders in Miami myself, I'm totally wary of them after being burned numerous times. 

I say go with your gut, don't ship it if you don't feel comfortable.

In addition, the address technically has to have a first and last name for it to be sent by the USPS. Clicking "problem with the buyer's address" as a reason to cancel the sale is perfectly reasonable if it's all just random letters.

[yuzuha]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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And for the record, @sja999 's sold item was $81. It just doesn't sound scammy to me and I've never had a problem with any buyer who used a freight forwarder. 

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I've sent many collectibles to buyers using freight forwarders. It's a very low-risk category for scams; the people who tend to buy that sort of thing are collectors who genuinely want that particular item.

[cubano4u]

I recently had a sale which used the Wilmington, DE address. I thought nothing of it and had no problems. Buyer was very happy with their purchase. It's just a freight forwarder. 

[this*old*attic]

I’ve shipped several times via re-shippers. No issues.

People think of them as a way for international buyers to “get around” buyer requirements.

While it’s true this allows foreign buyers to qualify via a US address, many do it to save expensive international postage - the centers hold packages a short time until many can be sent in a crate to the same general area or hub.

As to incomplete names - one of my own roommates gets his Amazon packages as simply “Emmanuel” (his first name).

It’s good to be careful, but everything different isn’t automatically nefarious.

[this*old*attic]

That is inaccurate- USPS doesn’t care what’s in the name field

[schloopertz]

Not true. I have had a package returned to sender because there was no last name on it. This was 2019, I was shocked to say the least. When asked why my package was returned I was told because there must be a full name on it.

I have been receiving mail for years addressed to occupant, or just with my first name from family, and I had no idea such a rule existed!

I also have had a package returned because I used my first initial and last name in the return address section. Had to pay to re-ship both. Seems the post office either changed the rules, or mine was getting a little overzealous.

[parts_and_diecasts]

about a third of my sales go to freight forwarding addresses, never had an issue.

put down your xenophobic hat and put on the common business sense one. most buyers using freight forwarding addresses are deep pockets, repeat buyers, that want goods not sold (or expensive) in their country for a reasonable price, nothing wrong with that. more likely to get "scammed" by Billy Bob in the Midwest that wants everything for free and think he is right at any cost.

[parts_and_diecasts]

found the other Canadian on this thread 🤣

[sja999]

I think it’s unfair to call me xenophobic when the person lists their location as in the US. My concern was the gobbledygook name and that it was going to a warehouse.

Thanks for being so unhelpful.

[soh.maryl]

That address is "notorious for scams"? How do you know that? 

[yuzuha]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

That is inaccurate- USPS doesn’t care what’s in the name field

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Yep. I jokingly sent a package to my friend addressed as "Her Majesty the Queen" once.

[katzrul15]

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@this*old*attic wrote:

That is inaccurate- USPS doesn’t care what’s in the name field

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Yep. I jokingly sent a package to my friend addressed as "Her Majesty the Queen" once.

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Our one Cat gets packages sometimes.  Don't know how....lol   They come addressed to Princess Mao......😃

[this*old*attic]

Then you had someone get a pole up their you know what along the way

Go ahead, show me something from USPS itself posted online that says that, not some ijit 

What? Cher doesn’t get her mail? Madonna?

My roommate has rented from me for 2 years and ALL of his packages come to “Emmanuel.”

Delivery is to a valid address, the person is not essential to the equation

[powell-memorabilia]

I’d ship with confidence.  Nothing wrong with freight forwarders, and you sell low scam risk items.  I’d ditch the insurance - it would do nothing for you.

[pennywiser]

A year later and it appears this scam is still going on. Actually since as far back as 2019 that I’ve found posts on scams coming out of addresses with Russian, Ukraine or Georgian names from towns in Wilmington and Newport Delaware. You’d think this would have been shut down by now or at the very least eBay send out notifications to their sellers not to deal with these addresses. It does how ever make me a causes seller to vet every single buyer. But when you new and your dealing with two separate sales that turns out to be a pyramid scheme and you see they have 100% feedback with like 1000+ transactions you think nothing of this especially when they make big money purchases. If eBay doesn’t feel the need to step in and stop the foreign citizens from committing fraud on their platform then they should tell these sellers to get a refund they’ll have to go after the seller by legal means and see how far they get. But from what I’ve read on other posts those sellers were still required to issue them a refund.  It also begs to question why an internet scam ring that’s been operating for years under Russian names in the same state and towns hasn’t been stopped by the FBI especially since these people are most likely foreign citizens committing a very serious crime that could very well booted out of the US. Surly someone out of the 40+ post on various sites have reported this to the law. It could just be conspiracy theory talk but I think some high American officials probably are getting a cut from this. I can’t for the life of me understand why ebayers are still having to find this out on their own with a good chance their sellers are losing money and with that they eventually lose those sellers because the risk here with letting these people to continue to steal their earnings.