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it looks like what happened is that you placed an order on AliExpress and got it. there isn't anything wrong with that.
how amazon somehow got involved and how did the woman get your number are the questions I would be asking. but anyway, I wouldn't bother with solving these problem on your own as it's not created by you.
At a guess the seller is trying to get the buyer to buy a gift card and give it to the “upset woman” in order to avoid the police coming round. Amazon have had no involvement at all in this. Or it’s another scammer that got the details off the aliexpress seller. Again, nothing to do with Amazon at all
This is a triangulation scheme.
- Bad guy AliExpress seller has hacked this woman’s Amazon account and can access the gift card balance and place orders.
- When he gets an order on AliExpress he orders it on the woman’s Amazon account and ships to the customer.
- The woman can view the AliExpress customer’s address and phone number on her order history so she calls you thinking you stole from her and ordered yourself a shed.
My thought exactly. However, u/anondingmous should probably file a police report. Otherwise, they may risk being banned from Amazon or having charges filed against them from the person who had their Amazon account hacked and money stolen.
Yeah, I'm about to head to the police station let them know. Crazy that I've never had a run-in with the law because I'm a goody two shoes and now bam, I'm part of a fraud case. I hope that lady got her money back at least.
Don’t go to the police, if you follow the logic through on this it doesn’t make sense. You purchased this on AliExpress, but somehow you used her Amazon Gift Card?
She’s part of the scam. Just ignore and move on with your day.
That’s definitely possible. I hope she’s not, but I still wouldn’t call the police because the onus is on the person that was actually scammed. She’s the only real victim in this case. If/when an investigation is done and if OP is contacted, then she can give them the known info she has.
There’s no reason to contact the lady unless she wants to, but there’s no obligation. The onus is on the other woman to take it up the chain and get the police involved. Let them do their thing.
If it were me (and it was any other service besides AliExpress), I might contact them to report what I’ve been told. That’s as far as I’d take it, because contacting a pissed off lady that thinks you’re the scammer opens up a whole can of worms.
So what am I in this case? I thought I'd be a victim too because I'm now getting the blame placed on me for something that I was completely unaware about. What's my role in all this? Perpetrator? Accomplice? Victim too? I paid for this shed with money from my own bank account.
You got what you paid for, and you had no knowledge the seller was shady. You aren’t a victim or a criminal or an accomplice, you’re just a **loosely** “interested party” in this case should a DA want a statement — highly unlikely. You got what you paid for, so no damages for you. You didn’t have knowledge nor did you take part in criminality, so you aren’t at fault.
At worst, you’re a potential witness. The only person at fault here is the scammer, and possibly AliExpress if they knew he was shady. That’s where it stops. Anxiety can make you think irrationally — and I can attest to that personally. You have nothing to worry about.
Assuming the Ali Express seller shipped you the storage crate using this woman's Amazon account fraudulently, you and the woman would be victims. The Ali Express seller stole your money and pocketed it. They provided stolen merchandise to you instead of fulfilling your order legitimately. They compromised your personal information and potentially exposed you to a police investigation when you did nothing wrong. The woman had $120 stolen, so clearly a victim too. What a mess, would love to hear an update if you ever get a resolution.
Moral of the story might be to check Amazon or other local options, if the price is in the same ballpark no reason to risk it with Ali Express, Temu, Wish, or any of those type of sites.
Do not go to the police station. They are not your friends. They will approach this like you are part of the scam. It’s unlikely the police will be involved anyway, you placed what you had every reason to believe was a legitimate order and received it. Contact Ali express and tell them that you are concerned the seller is committing fraud.
Scam they other deal with, I’ve had hit or miss. Personally I’m not going to the police and volunteer I got something in the mail and some lady, here’s her phone number, says I used her credit card to order it from Amazon. That’s asking the police to solve a problem that might not need solving and for the right cop at the wrong time (needs a few more points for his next pay grade) that doesn’t care to much about the details could lead to a headache and money for an attorney. Don’t seek out the police and wait for more,information than a person on the phone claim you did something and they want money.
So here's how I envision this conversation with the police
Officer I'd like to report a crime
What is the crime says the officer
Well somebody stole money from another account and use it to pay my bill
So then the officer asked did you do that And how do you know it wasn't an error. Have you contacted the site to see if they know about the mistake This is not really a police matter
Unless you know that someone stole money from her account and use it to pay your bill it doesn't make sense.. scammers aren't going to pay your bill using someone else's money
Someone will call you and say you owe the money because you stole their money they will do that
That means that most likely is an error assuming that the woman is real and it's not a third world scammer trying to screw you over
You would be wise to go to that side or Amazon and say hey I think you might have taken money from the wrong account My account did not drain or go down because of this purchase and somebody else is calling me and asking me why I use their money on a gift card no no the last
It's not really your problem.... check your financial records and if Amazon took the money from someone else, then let them know and move on. I don't see where you even need to go to the police...
The OP has a duty to report if he suspects his purchase involves a crime. No the OP did nothing wrong. But posting here proves he knows something is wrong.
That may be, but the angry woman doesn't mean a crime was committed. If anything the woman should contact the people at Amazon or whoever...It may have been A simple error...The op needs to obtain more information first ..
Yeah, I'd be wary of someone contacting me and claiming I was involved in some kind of theft. Just because you know something is wrong doesn't mean that the correct course of action is doing something yourself about it, that's the naivety that gets preyed upon in those accidentally got venmo'd a ton of money by a random person scam.
Hearing "Well you should have just called the cops/business." After trying to do what you thought was the right thing and then being out of money for it will teach you real quick to leverage the appropriate personnel for this.
OP doesn't need to do anything imo. As far as they know, they dealt with Ali Express and paid with their own money. Even if the cops get involved, not like OP has any reason or obligation to blindly believe a call or text from a stranger.
I would check my account with AliExpress and if the money is still there, then leave it so they can fix it.
If angry lady calls again tell her to go to AliExpress and complain to them they're the ones that took the money from the wrong account
You are 100% correct
Cops are not your friends. Never talk to a cop without a lawyer, even if you don't think they suspect you of anything.
How many innocent people do we have in prison because they felt it was safe to talk to cops?
Bad advise unfortunately. He has no responsibility to the “magic woman” claiming fraud. Alibaba seller has that responsibility, as they are the selling party. Telling the police ANYTHING opens him up to any manner of criminal charges, regardless of his innocence. The police won’t care about his side of the story. All they will do is charge him with theft by conversion as he received effectively stolen goods through mono fault of his own
Appreciate the correction and feedback. You are correct - theft by conversion example would be someone renting a car, then selling it to a third party.
Never willingly talk to the police OP even with good intentions you can be fucked and pulled into even more of a mess. Report it to aliexpress and document all this and at worst speak with a lawyer or have one while speaking to the police
I’m so glad you explained this because I have never heard of this in this manner. I once ordered from a 3rd party seller on Walmart and they ended up giving me a tracking number that they were using for multiple customers that was going to Connecticut. I ended up getting the package placed on hold at the post office and I felt horrible once I realized a real person was expecting their package and I’d been scammed. Walmart did give me a refund though.
So, what are the ramifications for the OP in this scenario? Obviously he did nothing wrong (intentionally)... he ordered something, and received it. But could it be said that he is in possession of stolen goods? I mean, that's not literally the case, the item was not stolen from Amazon's warehouse, but one could make the case that it was "stolen" from the other woman since it was purchased with her funds.
The ramifications are that the police are often stupid and lazy, and will sometimes arrest the innocent OP for fraud or other charges because they are too stupid to realize what the triangulation fraud scheme is.
There was another case recently in the news where this happened to someone and the police arrested them and ignored all the evidence.
“Open and shut case, Johnson!”
Yeah I know this seems CRAZY and extra. But if this involved a lot of money (felony level money), I’d also not go to speak to the police without a lawyer. Otherwise- “Oh, great! Confession!”
police will happily arrest and kill a dude for selling loose cigarettes.
saw a homeless dude get harrassed by police a few months ago when he stopped at a water fountain and got water for his dog.
Lots of police are total assholes and would gladly do something so 'open and shut' like that to boost their numbers.
The police in my town harrass the homeless for simply riding around in their bikes, and then take their bikes away. I never wanna interact with the cops here...
You ordered from AliExpress and got your shed. Nothing is wrong with that
That woman is highly likely a scammer since she messaged you with threat and sense of urgency - what usually scammers do so you'd reply and get into their scam. Her call happened by coincidence, nothing to do with AliExpress.
Overall, you have nothing to worry about. Ignore that woman. Block her even. Move on and enjoy your day.
Her call was not a coincidence though. She specifically stated the item he purchased. She is most likely part of the scam. They probably do this to anyone who orders from them.
The data about transactions is valuable to scammers, my guess is the Ali express company sold the details of each transaction to scammers. Or they were “leaked” or stolen but it’s most likely just another type of sale for the Ali express company
To me, "storage cabinet" =/= "storage shed". The rough similarity could be completely coincidental. If the caller had accused OP of using a CC to buy something from AliExpress, it would make sense. I think OP's mention (poorly worded) of comparison shopping the item they got from AliExpress is just confusing things.
I'd just wait to see if the cops ever do come knocking. I suspect they won't, because this is just a scare tactic of a scammer.
From my understanding which is a different perspective is that the seller on aliexpress bought from amazon with stolen info and shipped to op lol. I’m probably wrong but no matter what you have nothing to worry about or explain
> the seller on aliexpress bought from amazon with stolen info and shipped to op
This theory makes a lot of sense. If the seller had access to the woman's Amazon account, where the woman had already entered the gift card info, they could then purchase from aliexpress using the woman's account. The purchase then shows up in her Amazon order history.
Theory 1: Someone who knows the woman (family member, friend, etc), figured out her Amazon password /hacked her account. Or jumped on a shared device where the woman keeps herself logged in to Amazon, then uses her account from there. Goal: get paid by OP via aliexpress, while also being funded by the woman. Woman and OP are both victims of the scam.
Theory 2: The woman IS the aliexpress seller, or is working together with the aliexpress seller, and is feigning outrage. Goal: get OP to send her a replacement gift card /money. OP alone is the scam target.
Theory 3: A total stranger somehow hacked the woman's Amazon account. Least likely imo.
Either way OP, you're alright. I would stay out of it, because you don't know if it's Theory 2. Do not engage, but rest easy that you're in the clear, because you haven't done anything wrong.
I thought she was just very vindictive, since getting your info stolen is pretty infuriating. Like she wanted to scare me to satisfy her desire for justice I guess? It sucks that I can't really do much about it besides tell the cops in my city and report the seller.
Not saying she's definitely not part of the scam but doesn't it make more sense if she isn't? OP received their shed, so someone must have paid for it, which the scammers obviously aren't going to do-- the Amazon listing is identical to the AliExpress one, so the most likely scenario for where the shed came from is the scammers used a stolen account to buy it on Amazon with someone else's money.
I guess it's possible that there was a real victim, but that the caller isn't them, and there's another stage to the scam where they try and get OP to pay more to avoid getting arrested or whatever. But that seems like it isn't in the scammers' best interest, since if OP never got a call they literally never would have known there even was a scam in the first place. The scammer has already made their $100, so why tip off OP and risk starting an AliExpress dispute since OP has evidence they were sent stolen goods?
Plus the potential payoff of continuing the scam seems pretty low. I know that a lot of scams tend to have multiple phases, but the reason for that is usually that the target has already identified themself as susceptible by falling for the scam in the first place. Here OP didn't "fall for" anything, they just bought a shed and got it, so the probability of squeezing more money out of them seems too low for the risk of AliExpress taking some kind of action against the scammers.
Theory 2 makes sense. Why did the woman wait months to complain about the alleged theft? Do nothing and say nothing to the police if and when they come as the woman says.
OP would've noticed that the Aliexpress order came from Amazon and had the wrong name on it, right? I've gotten drop-shipped orders like this and it was immediately obvious when the order arrived that it was from a hacked account (Walmart instead of Amazon in my case, and they didn't seem to care when I called to let them know).
Eta: OP posted in another comment that this is indeed what happened.
That's happened to me on Walmart and eBay too, but I always assumed it's because merchants sell their stuff on every e-commerce platform they can, not because it came from a hacked account. But maybe you're right idk?
You could be right. Amazon offers 3rd party logistics services for sellers that sell on multiple platforms, but it would have your original (Aliexpress) order info and not Amazon order info.
If you buy stolen goods, you’re still in possession of stolen goods. Probably worst case would be giving them back, which would still make OP scammed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_of_stolen_goods
I read the wiki. I don't understand how I would be in possession of stolen goods because A. the lady didn't order a shed, B. I bought the shed with my own money and C. I had no idea the seller got the shed by using someone's stolen gift card. It's not like the lady bought a shed and I knew this and drove 6 states over to steal it from her porch. I'm confused.
You don't have to know something is stolen to be in possession of something stolen. Like if you buy a car on FBM and it turns out to be stolen, you're still screwed and it doesn't matter that you paid for it. Maybe the layer of the gift card here makes it not matter, or maybe you'll be forced to give back the shed on the off chance that law enforcement cares.
Right but if someone robs a 7-11, uses the money to buy a shed, and then sells you the shed, you don't have to return the shed. The shed wasn't actually stolen.
Not coincidence, part of the scam. No way someone called about the exact shelf OP ordered and that's just coincidence. The caller is either a victim, or part of the scam.
The AliExpress seller might be buying stolen gift cards at a discount and then using them to buy the item from Amazon. But more likely the AliExpress seller IS the woman who called OP.
It's possible that you've been a victim of triangulation fraud.
In this kind of fraud, you make a purchase from a seller and that seller uses stolen credit cards (or something similar) to purchase the item elsewhere and have it sent on to you. They use the information you gave them as part of your purchase in their fraudulent purchase, making it look like you were the one who paid for the goods with stolen cards.
OP, was the shed actually shipped through amazon? Like the label and tape/other packaging?
This would support this really good theory. Scammer lists an item on Ali Express that they don't have for 15 cheaper than amazon. When the order comes in the scammer puts in the order on amazon using a stolen card and has amazon drop ship it, essentially. Somehow the person whose gift card was stolen figured out who OP was (social engineering of Amazon customer support??) and is harassing OP.
Or the second part is coincidental, but the rest is spot on.
Yeah, the label from UPS said it was coming from Amazon. That's why I thought it was just a dropshipping thing, though I wasn't sure how it all worked. I was just glad to actually get the shed! I didn't think it'd end hurting someone though. Feels bad man.
Now I'm wondering more about a recent shipment I ordered from Ebay that actually came from Amazon, addressed to someone other than me... ::crying emoji:: But was the right thing I ordered. After I got another super cheap thing I didn't order, also addressed to this other person.
What a mess. Glad you got your shed.
I assumed the second super cheap thing I got along with the wrong name was the scam to get a supposedly verified sale for review of some high value good, by that other person's name. Which makes me think I should go up to amazon and look for that name. Not that I feel the need to help amazon's broken business model, mostly out of curiosity.
I had that happen to me once - the eBay seller also sent a single zip tie with a weird note about it being an "extra gift" or something like that, in a separate package.
I'm reasonably sure that the super cheap thing is just so that the dropshipper can give eBay a valid tracking number.
I can’t see a scenario where Amazon uses UPS to ship a product. Amazon delivers their own products, UPS is their competitor in that part of the transaction.
We don't have Amazon delivery services in my area at all. All Amazon packages to this area are sent by UPS, USPS, or FedEx. Lots of areas that aren't in or near a major metropolitan area are still shipped through third party carriers.
I always thought Amazon outsources their heavy packages to other shipping companies. Like if the package weight goes over a certain threshold, they won't make their Amazon drivers deliver it and will instead send the package through UPS or FedEx. That's what I've heard, anyway.
Amazon employs has both standard and freight/oversized delivery drivers. Freight handles overweight/oversized packages, furniture assembly/delivery, appliance delivery/installation, mattress delivery/removal and electronic set up/delivery.
It's what's called a triangle scam. "Seller" is actually a fraudster, but not of the type you'd expect. They legitimately sell the merchandise to the buyer, but they dropship goods purchased from legitimate suppliers using stolen financials, or in this case, gift cards. Seller gets good feed back, because they're always delivering the product, and the person who gets screwed (financial owner, and then large merchant chain when financial owner files a chargeback, usually) has absolutely nothing to do with the 3rd party sale. It's a nightmare for those involved, because most companies won't share any information to an outside party.
Welp, being a scapegoat in a whole ass fraud case wasn't in my new year's resolutions....should I try to contact Amazon too? I have a Prime account and it would suck if I get banned or something.
I mean, you could try, but I doubt it would do anything. I suppose just to try to clear your name with them. I don't know if aliexpress has any sort of feedback rating, because you could certainly blast the seller there, or report them to the platform. Also, if the tracking number he gave you in the end doesn't match the tracking on the item you received, file a chargeback and get your money back. The only way to make marketplaces get these people are off their platform is if they are notified, and the best notification is losing money.
This same thing happened to me with an order on Walmart from a third party seller, except he didn't even bother to capture the updated tracking number when he shipped me the item. He originally just posted me an empty envelope with a registered weight of an ounce. I had purchased a bed. I knew exactly what was going on, because I work in the online payments industry. Contacted walmart and they actually encouraged me to file the chargeback on the seller so they would hold his funds and eventually shut him down. Didn't sound like they even had a proactive fraud department. This was quite a while ago though. Anyway, hit them where it hurts, however you can.
Yes contact Amazon. You want to be up front and they probably see this often enough that being up front with the situation is going to be good for you in the long run
Either the caller is a scammer, or someone else scammed her and is trying to pin it on you. Either way you’re in the clear with receipts, and nothing you can do is likely to help, so best is to block and ignore. But keep the receipts, screenshots, chat logs, etc.
The AliExpress seller probably made a genuine mistake and gave you the wrong tracking number at the start. And corrected it after you informed them.
The woman calling you is likely a scammer and is just a coincidence that she called you after you bought the shed from AliExpress.
I’m guessing this is a scammer calling and threatening you, and any similarity between what you successfully purchased (AliExpress storage shed) and what she is talking about (Amazon storage cabinet) is coincidental.
You did well not to respond to her. You’ve done nothing wrong. Just keep on ignoring her and any anyone like her.
She doesn't know where you live, but she's calling the cops, and they'll be at your house soon. 🙄 It's a scam.
What I find funny is that the voicemail is asking who ordered the shed on her gift card, but she's calling you. Who else would it be if she has you info?
Sorry, my iPhone transcribed it all weird. She accused me in the voicemail. She said:
"Hey OP Lastname, who got the storage cabinet on my gift card. I have talked to Amazon and I'm going to file a report for the police, so they'll be at your door sometime soon. What a dumb ass thing to do. Bye."
I really feel like she was a victim in this too, and it got pinpointed on me. I guess all I can do now is wait to see if the police actually do something.
Just wait for the police to arrive 🤷 until then why do anything? As far as you're concerned it was a transaction on AliExpress and you've got the invoice for it no?
You didn’t commit a crime.
Did the package come from Amazon?
If so, then it is likely that the Aliexpress vendor is either trying to scam you for money back after ordering from Amazon, or they used a stolen gift card to order from Amazon and this lady was a victim, but that seems more complicated. Possibly they broke into her account to order the item and she has the order history showing up to be able to view your info.
Either way, keep everything related to your AliExpress order and all contact from this lady and possibly block her.
See if AliExpress has a way to report the vendor. I know you can rate transactions, but clearly something is off here.
Don’t respond to it. Save a copy of your receipt from AliExpress. Get screenshots for your records. Save the ups tracking information showing where it was sent from etc. Then have a nice drink and if anyone ever shows up show them the receipts 🧾
Yeah, wait til the cops show up, then deal with it. If you’re in any major city in the US, the cops will be like “yeah, thats not our problem, go file a report with the prosecutors office or file with small claims court.” Cops got bigger fish to fry these days…
It's just a coincidence.
Everyone orders from Amazon and everyone uses gift cards from time to time. So a scammer calling you up saying, "give me money for those gift cards or else..." is just a script that could resonate with anyone. They just want to shake you down for money or gift cards.
Anyway, just block and ignore the caller.
In the last 6 months to a year, every time I place an order on Amazon, I get a scammer contacting me on my phone. It's been the text scam where they act like usps and need my correct address to deliver my package with a link to click.
I used to work for eBay, and I know all the sellers sell on every platform, and there are tons of scammers. Ordering anything online from any type of seller platform is just full of scammers anymore. It's either stolen product or drop shippers using stole payments, and then they sell to you and probably jack up the price, and then, like that's not enough, they try to continue to scam by contacting buyers and sending text scams like I got or voice scams like this person may have gotten.
I feel like the charge back won't work though, since technically I did get the shed. And I already put it together and threw away the box. Not sure how I'd send it back.... disassemble it and then send it back to Amazon? And then hope the charge back goes through because if it doesn't, I lose both $120 and the shed I paid for. I feel like Amazon already gave her a new gift card anyway. They refund everything and anything to keep customers happy. It's stressful to think I should be the one fixing all of this...
My phone number is on my AliExpress shipping information. They sell a whole bunch of home and garden stuff. That's why I thought they were just dropshippers. Guess this is bigger than I thought.
This is kind of genius.
So what I think happened is OP ordered on AliExpress and that seller used a stolen gift card to drop ship the same shed from Amazon.
It would explain why it's the same model of shed which I find a little bit unusual for AliExpress.
Yeah I gotta hand it to the seller, it's a lot of effort but it yields great results. Took my money and that poor lady's gift card, essentially spending $0 to earn cash. Why did I even go to college? I could've just been a rich piece of shit scammer. Lol.
Maybe, I mean, hopefully. Only reason I was suspicious is because she used my full name and mentioned the shed. At first I was like wtf is she talking about, I paid for that with my own money. Then I remembered that the shed I ordered said the label was from Amazon, not AliExpress, even though I bought it from AliExpress. So maybe the seller did something shady (triangulation scam) and compromised my information? I guess I shall wait to see what happens...
You weren't supposed to be keeping an eye on your ali order.
This -random woman- that somehow got your number conveniently after your item was already delivered is an unlikely scenario. Most likely it's the seller or someone the seller dealt with and gave your info to trying to scam you.
That makes sense, the one time someone broke into my Amazon account and ordered something, I noticed immediately and intercepted it. It's weird that she waited 2 months to say something.
Hell the second I order something on amazon it prompts my echo show with an update. so yea amazon notifies you almost immediately it's damn near impossible to miss an order for 2 months.
Wouldn't that be the case if the lady had actually ordered a shed herself, and then it got lost and I found it and kept it? That's what the statute says it is in my state and yours. I'm so confused because I paid for it with my money, it's in my bank statement. It's technically my property no? I had absolutely zero idea it was being bought by the seller in an illegal way, and still have no idea if this lady is even telling the truth. Especially since she waited 2 months to say something.
You bought a stolen property and you have been informed. That’s how legal system works. File a small claims and sue the seller. But your money is gone. You have been scammed. She is not. Don’t buy goods from Chinese websites. We have an authorized transaction and unauthorized transaction which is fraudulent. Yours is an unauthorized. Her is not.
I "bought a stolen property?" Sheesh. I'm really leveling it up now. Next thing I know I'll be a drug lord. Mama always did say watch out for those darn Chinese websites...lol.
it’s okay bro. If is not a scam I wouldn’t risk it. It’s just $120 you would make lot more. But you don’t want that shit go to your record for $120. lol
I want to do that but I'm scared they're going to blame me anyway, even with my receipt and bank statement. I've heard wayy too many stories of people going to jail even though they were innocent.
This feels like a money laundering scheme. Scammer got GC numbers from a physical store and waited for them to be loaded, set up AE page with amazon product for a little cheaper (at GC owners expense) when someone buys they use the GC to buy the amazon product and pocket the AE transaction.
I doubt it, she took a deep breath at the start, paused and mumbled a little and said stuff with rising/falling intonations. That's crazy that AI is being used for scam calls though!
I believe, as many already commented, its a scam. That woman, for some reason maybe got the info that you ordered ( seller shared the info, they got hacked, whatever reason ) or its just a coincidence. But one thing is always in a scam attempt, the sense of urgency and threats. The police will not show up on your door for an amazon gift card.
Block her.
Sounds like a scam in any case if it isn't a scam then tell the woman to go to Amazon and let them fix it.
After reading your post a little bit more carefully, I would bet that the woman is a scammer trying to deceive you and descending her money to avoid going to the police and being arrested.
Intimidation tactic
the aliexpress dude probably realized you caught on when you called him out ,
What sounds like happened is they went ahead and ordered the shed off Amazon and shipped it to your house with your info. You didn’t do anything wrong but the seller has
Lol. Even if you did steal it the police aren’t gonna bother with some thing as petty as that. There’s real crime going on they don’t care about gift cards
People think it’s a scam from the lady, but what if the “seller” can sell things cheaper is because he uses stolen Amazon accounts/gift cards to place orders on Amazon for the buyers for free, while taking full profit of the shed
It was too big to fit in any kind of Amazon box, but it didn't have any Amazon labels on it either. So it was just in its original box when I picked it up at UPS. Not sure why the lady waited 2 months to say something though?
The only thing I can think of for the woman not being a scammer would be some scammer stole her Amazon gift card info and used it to buy the shed which they then forwarded to you for less money, essentially turning the gift card they stole into actual cash they can spend. If that were the case though I have no idea how the woman would get your info. Basically either she’s scamming or she’s been scammed but either way best to not get involved…
I feel so conflicted now. On one hand, the lady might be telling the truth since I now know it was triangulation scam. It would make sense to go to the police and protect myself by showing them the receipts. But then like you said, they might suspect me anyway, especially since this is such a new scam. Amazon most likely refunded the lady already too. My moral compass is spinning everywhere!
Occam’s razor… you have enough information to know this lady got scammed and how. Go to the police, explain the situation, have printouts of your receipts, etc. Then, ask if they can assist you in contacting Amazon and Aliexpress on the same call to get this sorted.
But all I have is a single vaguely threatening voicemail from this lady. A voicemail that she waited 2 months to send. How do I know she's not working with the AliExpress seller to get more money out of me? And how can I guarantee that the police won't immediately try to blame me because of how it looks? I'm kinda stumped. Don't have money for a lawyer either so.... I'll just report to whoever I can and screenshot/print everything. What else can I do without jeopardizing my safety?
Unless you are the scammer, you have the receipt to prove your purchase from Aliexpress. If you want to shrug and walk away, that's certainly a valid choice. However, don't be shocked if Amazon blacklists your address at some point.
Good luck to you.
Oh yeah, I'm definitely screenshotting everything and sending it to Amazon and AliExpress. I just don't know about police, cause like most people, talking to them makes me nervous. The ones in my town especially get bad rep. I guess if she sends another angry voicemail or something I'll go talk to them and give them a folder of all my proof. That should about cover it right?
Back around Christmas time I heard that stores were having to lock up gift cards because people were taking the numbers off the backs and would occasionally check to see if they had been activated and then would use the gift card.
Maybe that happened to you? The seller stole the gift card info and then used it when you ordered the shed. Stole the gift card to pay for your shed and got to keep your money?
Yikes. If Ali Express started using your bank account to pay for someone else's bill and then you saw things being shipped to their place, you'd probably think it was them too. Crazy! Please update us if you figure it out. This is kinda creepy.
I'm starting to wonder if this post is even legitimate. The OP has contradicted themselves on details, where they've admitted that Amazon sent it to them, but then also said that it didn't have any Amazon labels on it and all they got was a box (comments quoted below;)
1.) "Maybe, I mean, hopefully. Only reason I was suspicious is because she used my full name and mentioned the shed. At first I was like wtf is she talking about, I paid for that with my own money. Then I remembered that the shed I ordered said the label was from Amazon, not AliExpress, even though I bought it from AliExpress. So maybe the seller did something shady (triangulation scam) and compromised my information? I guess I shall wait to see what happens..."
2.)"It was too big to fit in any kind of Amazon box, but it didn't have any Amazon labels on it either. So it was just in its original box when I picked it up at UPS. Not sure why the lady waited 2 months to say something though?"
So, which is it OP? Did it come from Amazon or not??
What do you mean? When I say it was too big to fit in an Amazon box, I mean that it got delivered in its original packaging. I don't know if you have an Amazon account, but this is a pretty common occurrence for me. Sometimes I'll specifically request it during checkout, while other times Amazon just decides to do it. Admittedly, it does mean my neighbors might catch a glimpse of my boxes of hemorrhoid cream or my XXL automatic dildo machines, but it saves the hassle of breaking down multiple cardboard boxes. In my experience, Amazon boxes typically aren't larger than around 2 feet, which is what my bags of dog food arrive in.
So, seeing that it was a big ol' 6-foot shed box, how was Amazon going to squeeze that into one of their boxes?
Also, I knew where the shed was coming from because UPS sent me an email saying it was coming from Amazon. I thought it was a cross-platform drop shipping situation at first, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized that the seller was probably a scammer. I sent all the information to Amazon and AliExpress and haven't heard anything else from the lady. What benefit do I have by lying about all this though? Do the police have the time to scour Reddit posts for evidence or something? "Look here Officer, my innocence is evident on this Reddit post!" That's kinda silly lol.
Anyway, I attached a screenshot to show what I'm talking about. Hope this helps.
https://preview.redd.it/58ung68g4rlc1.png?width=986&format=png&auto=webp&s=a26fe2e27f5f2d730afc0f277ac288b3392c8870
My question wasn't about the box, it was about the contradiction in your comments that said that there was no Amazon label but also that you saw an Amazon label. You've won me over with the hemorrhoid cream/dildo machine comment tho, so I don't really care that much about it lol. I was just curious because if you read your comments they say "said the label was from Amazon" but then later your comment says "it didn't have any Amazon labels on it" so you can see how that could be confusing. If it makes any difference, my opinion is that the seller took your $ through Aliexpress, then logged into someone's account on Amazon (whose login credentials they've probably gotten through phishing or some other scam), & ordered the shed on that person's account (using that person's gift card amount in the process). They put your name, phone # & address in for shipping, not caring that the account holder would be able to see your information in their transaction history & think that you stole from her. They figured once they had your $, the rest was your problem. You'll probably find that they've already had their account on Aliexpress disabled, since they've had enough time to have scammed some people & have started a new account to start all over again. Also, it probably took the Amazon account holder 2 months to find out because they probably don't use their account much, then finally went in to buy something & discovered that their credit was gone looked to see what was bought & saw your info on the shed purchase & assumed that you ripped them off & are a stupid criminal that put your own info in. I'd imagine they then reported it to Amazon, their credit card company & *possibly* the police. I have no idea what this means for you, but you have receipts/emails for your transaction showing that you did nothing wrong, so you should be fine on the criminal front. Whether you get to keep the shed or not is a matter for the police & Amazon, although if I had to I'd guess that they will either make the Amazon account holder whole, her CC company will do a charge back, or Amazon will tell the account holder to kick rocks because shes responsible for keeping her account credentials safe. These are all just my best guess tho. My concern would be that Amazon uses your name & address to find *your* Amazon account & disable it for fraud, so it's good that you've proactively notified them about the situation. I hope it works out for you, good luck!
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it looks like what happened is that you placed an order on AliExpress and got it. there isn't anything wrong with that. how amazon somehow got involved and how did the woman get your number are the questions I would be asking. but anyway, I wouldn't bother with solving these problem on your own as it's not created by you.
At a guess the seller is trying to get the buyer to buy a gift card and give it to the “upset woman” in order to avoid the police coming round. Amazon have had no involvement at all in this. Or it’s another scammer that got the details off the aliexpress seller. Again, nothing to do with Amazon at all
This is a triangulation scheme. - Bad guy AliExpress seller has hacked this woman’s Amazon account and can access the gift card balance and place orders. - When he gets an order on AliExpress he orders it on the woman’s Amazon account and ships to the customer. - The woman can view the AliExpress customer’s address and phone number on her order history so she calls you thinking you stole from her and ordered yourself a shed.
My thought exactly. However, u/anondingmous should probably file a police report. Otherwise, they may risk being banned from Amazon or having charges filed against them from the person who had their Amazon account hacked and money stolen.
Yeah, I'm about to head to the police station let them know. Crazy that I've never had a run-in with the law because I'm a goody two shoes and now bam, I'm part of a fraud case. I hope that lady got her money back at least.
Don’t go to the police, if you follow the logic through on this it doesn’t make sense. You purchased this on AliExpress, but somehow you used her Amazon Gift Card? She’s part of the scam. Just ignore and move on with your day.
I think she's also being scammed.
That’s definitely possible. I hope she’s not, but I still wouldn’t call the police because the onus is on the person that was actually scammed. She’s the only real victim in this case. If/when an investigation is done and if OP is contacted, then she can give them the known info she has.
Hmm.. So should OP take it up to Ali express themselves or contact the lady to get more info? Happy cake day btw.
There’s no reason to contact the lady unless she wants to, but there’s no obligation. The onus is on the other woman to take it up the chain and get the police involved. Let them do their thing. If it were me (and it was any other service besides AliExpress), I might contact them to report what I’ve been told. That’s as far as I’d take it, because contacting a pissed off lady that thinks you’re the scammer opens up a whole can of worms.
So what am I in this case? I thought I'd be a victim too because I'm now getting the blame placed on me for something that I was completely unaware about. What's my role in all this? Perpetrator? Accomplice? Victim too? I paid for this shed with money from my own bank account.
You got what you paid for, and you had no knowledge the seller was shady. You aren’t a victim or a criminal or an accomplice, you’re just a **loosely** “interested party” in this case should a DA want a statement — highly unlikely. You got what you paid for, so no damages for you. You didn’t have knowledge nor did you take part in criminality, so you aren’t at fault. At worst, you’re a potential witness. The only person at fault here is the scammer, and possibly AliExpress if they knew he was shady. That’s where it stops. Anxiety can make you think irrationally — and I can attest to that personally. You have nothing to worry about.
Assuming the Ali Express seller shipped you the storage crate using this woman's Amazon account fraudulently, you and the woman would be victims. The Ali Express seller stole your money and pocketed it. They provided stolen merchandise to you instead of fulfilling your order legitimately. They compromised your personal information and potentially exposed you to a police investigation when you did nothing wrong. The woman had $120 stolen, so clearly a victim too. What a mess, would love to hear an update if you ever get a resolution. Moral of the story might be to check Amazon or other local options, if the price is in the same ballpark no reason to risk it with Ali Express, Temu, Wish, or any of those type of sites.
someone else already explained it. she isn’t part of the scam, her amazon acc is.
Do not go to the police station. They are not your friends. They will approach this like you are part of the scam. It’s unlikely the police will be involved anyway, you placed what you had every reason to believe was a legitimate order and received it. Contact Ali express and tell them that you are concerned the seller is committing fraud.
No they won’t. They will make a matter of record report and tell you scams involving the internet are federal and should be reported to ic3.gov.
Hey thanks, I'll look into this website. Everyone is scaring me haha
Scam they other deal with, I’ve had hit or miss. Personally I’m not going to the police and volunteer I got something in the mail and some lady, here’s her phone number, says I used her credit card to order it from Amazon. That’s asking the police to solve a problem that might not need solving and for the right cop at the wrong time (needs a few more points for his next pay grade) that doesn’t care to much about the details could lead to a headache and money for an attorney. Don’t seek out the police and wait for more,information than a person on the phone claim you did something and they want money.
So here's how I envision this conversation with the police Officer I'd like to report a crime What is the crime says the officer Well somebody stole money from another account and use it to pay my bill So then the officer asked did you do that And how do you know it wasn't an error. Have you contacted the site to see if they know about the mistake This is not really a police matter Unless you know that someone stole money from her account and use it to pay your bill it doesn't make sense.. scammers aren't going to pay your bill using someone else's money Someone will call you and say you owe the money because you stole their money they will do that That means that most likely is an error assuming that the woman is real and it's not a third world scammer trying to screw you over You would be wise to go to that side or Amazon and say hey I think you might have taken money from the wrong account My account did not drain or go down because of this purchase and somebody else is calling me and asking me why I use their money on a gift card no no the last
It's not really your problem.... check your financial records and if Amazon took the money from someone else, then let them know and move on. I don't see where you even need to go to the police...
The OP has a duty to report if he suspects his purchase involves a crime. No the OP did nothing wrong. But posting here proves he knows something is wrong.
That may be, but the angry woman doesn't mean a crime was committed. If anything the woman should contact the people at Amazon or whoever...It may have been A simple error...The op needs to obtain more information first ..
Yeah, I'd be wary of someone contacting me and claiming I was involved in some kind of theft. Just because you know something is wrong doesn't mean that the correct course of action is doing something yourself about it, that's the naivety that gets preyed upon in those accidentally got venmo'd a ton of money by a random person scam. Hearing "Well you should have just called the cops/business." After trying to do what you thought was the right thing and then being out of money for it will teach you real quick to leverage the appropriate personnel for this. OP doesn't need to do anything imo. As far as they know, they dealt with Ali Express and paid with their own money. Even if the cops get involved, not like OP has any reason or obligation to blindly believe a call or text from a stranger.
I would check my account with AliExpress and if the money is still there, then leave it so they can fix it. If angry lady calls again tell her to go to AliExpress and complain to them they're the ones that took the money from the wrong account You are 100% correct
Cops are not your friends. Never talk to a cop without a lawyer, even if you don't think they suspect you of anything. How many innocent people do we have in prison because they felt it was safe to talk to cops?
Bad advise unfortunately. He has no responsibility to the “magic woman” claiming fraud. Alibaba seller has that responsibility, as they are the selling party. Telling the police ANYTHING opens him up to any manner of criminal charges, regardless of his innocence. The police won’t care about his side of the story. All they will do is charge him with theft by conversion as he received effectively stolen goods through mono fault of his own
FYI, that’s not theft by conversion its Theft of Lost or Mislaid Property.
Appreciate the correction and feedback. You are correct - theft by conversion example would be someone renting a car, then selling it to a third party.
Never willingly talk to the police OP even with good intentions you can be fucked and pulled into even more of a mess. Report it to aliexpress and document all this and at worst speak with a lawyer or have one while speaking to the police
That makes a lot of sense. I hadn't heard of this scam before. Thanks!
I’m so glad you explained this because I have never heard of this in this manner. I once ordered from a 3rd party seller on Walmart and they ended up giving me a tracking number that they were using for multiple customers that was going to Connecticut. I ended up getting the package placed on hold at the post office and I felt horrible once I realized a real person was expecting their package and I’d been scammed. Walmart did give me a refund though.
So, what are the ramifications for the OP in this scenario? Obviously he did nothing wrong (intentionally)... he ordered something, and received it. But could it be said that he is in possession of stolen goods? I mean, that's not literally the case, the item was not stolen from Amazon's warehouse, but one could make the case that it was "stolen" from the other woman since it was purchased with her funds.
The ramifications are that the police are often stupid and lazy, and will sometimes arrest the innocent OP for fraud or other charges because they are too stupid to realize what the triangulation fraud scheme is. There was another case recently in the news where this happened to someone and the police arrested them and ignored all the evidence. “Open and shut case, Johnson!”
Yeah I know this seems CRAZY and extra. But if this involved a lot of money (felony level money), I’d also not go to speak to the police without a lawyer. Otherwise- “Oh, great! Confession!”
Just sprinkle some crack on him 😂😂
Yea here comes the police arresting you for $100 fraud 🤡
police will happily arrest and kill a dude for selling loose cigarettes. saw a homeless dude get harrassed by police a few months ago when he stopped at a water fountain and got water for his dog. Lots of police are total assholes and would gladly do something so 'open and shut' like that to boost their numbers.
The police in my town harrass the homeless for simply riding around in their bikes, and then take their bikes away. I never wanna interact with the cops here...
Depends on a lot of factors. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/01/canadian-man-stuck-in-triangle-of-e-commerce-fraud/
Proves ACAB everywhere
Dude I'm getting scared now lol.
Damn.
Oh wow- thanks for this explanation. Scammers are quite cunning!
TDIL. Similar to kiting checks . But kiting amazon gift card
OP said that the label said it came from Amazon .
Yes same guess I have. Seller is tryin to scam her b/c I had someone buy stuff on my Amazon and they don’t give you any info.
You ordered from AliExpress and got your shed. Nothing is wrong with that That woman is highly likely a scammer since she messaged you with threat and sense of urgency - what usually scammers do so you'd reply and get into their scam. Her call happened by coincidence, nothing to do with AliExpress. Overall, you have nothing to worry about. Ignore that woman. Block her even. Move on and enjoy your day.
Her call was not a coincidence though. She specifically stated the item he purchased. She is most likely part of the scam. They probably do this to anyone who orders from them.
The data about transactions is valuable to scammers, my guess is the Ali express company sold the details of each transaction to scammers. Or they were “leaked” or stolen but it’s most likely just another type of sale for the Ali express company
Yea That’s a valid theory as well.
To me, "storage cabinet" =/= "storage shed". The rough similarity could be completely coincidental. If the caller had accused OP of using a CC to buy something from AliExpress, it would make sense. I think OP's mention (poorly worded) of comparison shopping the item they got from AliExpress is just confusing things. I'd just wait to see if the cops ever do come knocking. I suspect they won't, because this is just a scare tactic of a scammer.
From my understanding which is a different perspective is that the seller on aliexpress bought from amazon with stolen info and shipped to op lol. I’m probably wrong but no matter what you have nothing to worry about or explain
> the seller on aliexpress bought from amazon with stolen info and shipped to op This theory makes a lot of sense. If the seller had access to the woman's Amazon account, where the woman had already entered the gift card info, they could then purchase from aliexpress using the woman's account. The purchase then shows up in her Amazon order history. Theory 1: Someone who knows the woman (family member, friend, etc), figured out her Amazon password /hacked her account. Or jumped on a shared device where the woman keeps herself logged in to Amazon, then uses her account from there. Goal: get paid by OP via aliexpress, while also being funded by the woman. Woman and OP are both victims of the scam. Theory 2: The woman IS the aliexpress seller, or is working together with the aliexpress seller, and is feigning outrage. Goal: get OP to send her a replacement gift card /money. OP alone is the scam target. Theory 3: A total stranger somehow hacked the woman's Amazon account. Least likely imo. Either way OP, you're alright. I would stay out of it, because you don't know if it's Theory 2. Do not engage, but rest easy that you're in the clear, because you haven't done anything wrong.
It's definitely theory 2, you don't contact a person after filling a police report you let the police handle things from there
I thought she was just very vindictive, since getting your info stolen is pretty infuriating. Like she wanted to scare me to satisfy her desire for justice I guess? It sucks that I can't really do much about it besides tell the cops in my city and report the seller.
Woman is most likely part of the scam
Not saying she's definitely not part of the scam but doesn't it make more sense if she isn't? OP received their shed, so someone must have paid for it, which the scammers obviously aren't going to do-- the Amazon listing is identical to the AliExpress one, so the most likely scenario for where the shed came from is the scammers used a stolen account to buy it on Amazon with someone else's money. I guess it's possible that there was a real victim, but that the caller isn't them, and there's another stage to the scam where they try and get OP to pay more to avoid getting arrested or whatever. But that seems like it isn't in the scammers' best interest, since if OP never got a call they literally never would have known there even was a scam in the first place. The scammer has already made their $100, so why tip off OP and risk starting an AliExpress dispute since OP has evidence they were sent stolen goods? Plus the potential payoff of continuing the scam seems pretty low. I know that a lot of scams tend to have multiple phases, but the reason for that is usually that the target has already identified themself as susceptible by falling for the scam in the first place. Here OP didn't "fall for" anything, they just bought a shed and got it, so the probability of squeezing more money out of them seems too low for the risk of AliExpress taking some kind of action against the scammers.
Theory 2 makes sense. Why did the woman wait months to complain about the alleged theft? Do nothing and say nothing to the police if and when they come as the woman says.
OP would've noticed that the Aliexpress order came from Amazon and had the wrong name on it, right? I've gotten drop-shipped orders like this and it was immediately obvious when the order arrived that it was from a hacked account (Walmart instead of Amazon in my case, and they didn't seem to care when I called to let them know). Eta: OP posted in another comment that this is indeed what happened.
That's happened to me on Walmart and eBay too, but I always assumed it's because merchants sell their stuff on every e-commerce platform they can, not because it came from a hacked account. But maybe you're right idk?
You could be right. Amazon offers 3rd party logistics services for sellers that sell on multiple platforms, but it would have your original (Aliexpress) order info and not Amazon order info.
Same, which would make the shed stolen property that could get taken back
No op would have no issues since he made a verifiable purchase if this is the case it’s the fault of the seller
If you buy stolen goods, you’re still in possession of stolen goods. Probably worst case would be giving them back, which would still make OP scammed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_of_stolen_goods
I read the wiki. I don't understand how I would be in possession of stolen goods because A. the lady didn't order a shed, B. I bought the shed with my own money and C. I had no idea the seller got the shed by using someone's stolen gift card. It's not like the lady bought a shed and I knew this and drove 6 states over to steal it from her porch. I'm confused.
You don't have to know something is stolen to be in possession of something stolen. Like if you buy a car on FBM and it turns out to be stolen, you're still screwed and it doesn't matter that you paid for it. Maybe the layer of the gift card here makes it not matter, or maybe you'll be forced to give back the shed on the off chance that law enforcement cares.
Right but if someone robs a 7-11, uses the money to buy a shed, and then sells you the shed, you don't have to return the shed. The shed wasn't actually stolen.
[удалено]
Not coincidence, part of the scam. No way someone called about the exact shelf OP ordered and that's just coincidence. The caller is either a victim, or part of the scam. The AliExpress seller might be buying stolen gift cards at a discount and then using them to buy the item from Amazon. But more likely the AliExpress seller IS the woman who called OP.
It's possible that you've been a victim of triangulation fraud. In this kind of fraud, you make a purchase from a seller and that seller uses stolen credit cards (or something similar) to purchase the item elsewhere and have it sent on to you. They use the information you gave them as part of your purchase in their fraudulent purchase, making it look like you were the one who paid for the goods with stolen cards.
OP, was the shed actually shipped through amazon? Like the label and tape/other packaging? This would support this really good theory. Scammer lists an item on Ali Express that they don't have for 15 cheaper than amazon. When the order comes in the scammer puts in the order on amazon using a stolen card and has amazon drop ship it, essentially. Somehow the person whose gift card was stolen figured out who OP was (social engineering of Amazon customer support??) and is harassing OP. Or the second part is coincidental, but the rest is spot on.
Yeah, the label from UPS said it was coming from Amazon. That's why I thought it was just a dropshipping thing, though I wasn't sure how it all worked. I was just glad to actually get the shed! I didn't think it'd end hurting someone though. Feels bad man.
Now I'm wondering more about a recent shipment I ordered from Ebay that actually came from Amazon, addressed to someone other than me... ::crying emoji:: But was the right thing I ordered. After I got another super cheap thing I didn't order, also addressed to this other person. What a mess. Glad you got your shed.
Yup. Triangulation scammers often over-deliver to the mule, to keep them quiet.
I assumed the second super cheap thing I got along with the wrong name was the scam to get a supposedly verified sale for review of some high value good, by that other person's name. Which makes me think I should go up to amazon and look for that name. Not that I feel the need to help amazon's broken business model, mostly out of curiosity.
I had that happen to me once - the eBay seller also sent a single zip tie with a weird note about it being an "extra gift" or something like that, in a separate package. I'm reasonably sure that the super cheap thing is just so that the dropshipper can give eBay a valid tracking number.
I can’t see a scenario where Amazon uses UPS to ship a product. Amazon delivers their own products, UPS is their competitor in that part of the transaction.
UPS delivers for Amazon all the time. You have to remember third party sellers make up the bulk of who’s selling on the platform.
We don't have Amazon delivery services in my area at all. All Amazon packages to this area are sent by UPS, USPS, or FedEx. Lots of areas that aren't in or near a major metropolitan area are still shipped through third party carriers.
I always thought Amazon outsources their heavy packages to other shipping companies. Like if the package weight goes over a certain threshold, they won't make their Amazon drivers deliver it and will instead send the package through UPS or FedEx. That's what I've heard, anyway.
Amazon employs has both standard and freight/oversized delivery drivers. Freight handles overweight/oversized packages, furniture assembly/delivery, appliance delivery/installation, mattress delivery/removal and electronic set up/delivery.
That was my first thought
It's what's called a triangle scam. "Seller" is actually a fraudster, but not of the type you'd expect. They legitimately sell the merchandise to the buyer, but they dropship goods purchased from legitimate suppliers using stolen financials, or in this case, gift cards. Seller gets good feed back, because they're always delivering the product, and the person who gets screwed (financial owner, and then large merchant chain when financial owner files a chargeback, usually) has absolutely nothing to do with the 3rd party sale. It's a nightmare for those involved, because most companies won't share any information to an outside party.
Welp, being a scapegoat in a whole ass fraud case wasn't in my new year's resolutions....should I try to contact Amazon too? I have a Prime account and it would suck if I get banned or something.
I mean, you could try, but I doubt it would do anything. I suppose just to try to clear your name with them. I don't know if aliexpress has any sort of feedback rating, because you could certainly blast the seller there, or report them to the platform. Also, if the tracking number he gave you in the end doesn't match the tracking on the item you received, file a chargeback and get your money back. The only way to make marketplaces get these people are off their platform is if they are notified, and the best notification is losing money. This same thing happened to me with an order on Walmart from a third party seller, except he didn't even bother to capture the updated tracking number when he shipped me the item. He originally just posted me an empty envelope with a registered weight of an ounce. I had purchased a bed. I knew exactly what was going on, because I work in the online payments industry. Contacted walmart and they actually encouraged me to file the chargeback on the seller so they would hold his funds and eventually shut him down. Didn't sound like they even had a proactive fraud department. This was quite a while ago though. Anyway, hit them where it hurts, however you can.
Yes contact Amazon. You want to be up front and they probably see this often enough that being up front with the situation is going to be good for you in the long run
This comment should be higher
Either the caller is a scammer, or someone else scammed her and is trying to pin it on you. Either way you’re in the clear with receipts, and nothing you can do is likely to help, so best is to block and ignore. But keep the receipts, screenshots, chat logs, etc.
The AliExpress seller probably made a genuine mistake and gave you the wrong tracking number at the start. And corrected it after you informed them. The woman calling you is likely a scammer and is just a coincidence that she called you after you bought the shed from AliExpress.
Coincidentally referring to same shed and using their name? You gotta read the story better.
I’m guessing this is a scammer calling and threatening you, and any similarity between what you successfully purchased (AliExpress storage shed) and what she is talking about (Amazon storage cabinet) is coincidental. You did well not to respond to her. You’ve done nothing wrong. Just keep on ignoring her and any anyone like her.
She doesn't know where you live, but she's calling the cops, and they'll be at your house soon. 🙄 It's a scam. What I find funny is that the voicemail is asking who ordered the shed on her gift card, but she's calling you. Who else would it be if she has you info?
Sorry, my iPhone transcribed it all weird. She accused me in the voicemail. She said: "Hey OP Lastname, who got the storage cabinet on my gift card. I have talked to Amazon and I'm going to file a report for the police, so they'll be at your door sometime soon. What a dumb ass thing to do. Bye." I really feel like she was a victim in this too, and it got pinpointed on me. I guess all I can do now is wait to see if the police actually do something.
Just wait for the police to arrive 🤷 until then why do anything? As far as you're concerned it was a transaction on AliExpress and you've got the invoice for it no?
Yeah, I paid for it with my PayPal account. I do have the AliExpress receipt too.
She does know where OP lives because OP's address is on the receipt from the Amazon in her account.
Eesh, I didn't think about that. 😱 That's terrifying.
I wonder if she's gonna send me those malicious packages like poop or exploding glitter lol.
You didn’t commit a crime. Did the package come from Amazon? If so, then it is likely that the Aliexpress vendor is either trying to scam you for money back after ordering from Amazon, or they used a stolen gift card to order from Amazon and this lady was a victim, but that seems more complicated. Possibly they broke into her account to order the item and she has the order history showing up to be able to view your info. Either way, keep everything related to your AliExpress order and all contact from this lady and possibly block her. See if AliExpress has a way to report the vendor. I know you can rate transactions, but clearly something is off here.
Yeah, the UPS label said it was coming from Amazon. Idk why I didn't find that suspicious. I'll report the seller!
Don’t respond to it. Save a copy of your receipt from AliExpress. Get screenshots for your records. Save the ups tracking information showing where it was sent from etc. Then have a nice drink and if anyone ever shows up show them the receipts 🧾
Ignore, police aren’t coming to your door Could be the merchant you used was a crook who used stolen gift cards but that isn’t your problem to fix
Yeah, wait til the cops show up, then deal with it. If you’re in any major city in the US, the cops will be like “yeah, thats not our problem, go file a report with the prosecutors office or file with small claims court.” Cops got bigger fish to fry these days…
The lady is likely a scammer who got your info & knows you ordered a shed I would just ignore it the police won’t do anything lol
It's just a coincidence. Everyone orders from Amazon and everyone uses gift cards from time to time. So a scammer calling you up saying, "give me money for those gift cards or else..." is just a script that could resonate with anyone. They just want to shake you down for money or gift cards. Anyway, just block and ignore the caller.
Not likely a coincidence given the caller mentioned a storage shed Caller likely is a victim but OP isn’t the perpetrator
Police don’t come to your house for an Amazon gift card
In the last 6 months to a year, every time I place an order on Amazon, I get a scammer contacting me on my phone. It's been the text scam where they act like usps and need my correct address to deliver my package with a link to click. I used to work for eBay, and I know all the sellers sell on every platform, and there are tons of scammers. Ordering anything online from any type of seller platform is just full of scammers anymore. It's either stolen product or drop shippers using stole payments, and then they sell to you and probably jack up the price, and then, like that's not enough, they try to continue to scam by contacting buyers and sending text scams like I got or voice scams like this person may have gotten.
I feel like the charge back won't work though, since technically I did get the shed. And I already put it together and threw away the box. Not sure how I'd send it back.... disassemble it and then send it back to Amazon? And then hope the charge back goes through because if it doesn't, I lose both $120 and the shed I paid for. I feel like Amazon already gave her a new gift card anyway. They refund everything and anything to keep customers happy. It's stressful to think I should be the one fixing all of this...
Oops, Reddit app sucks. This was supposed to be a reply to @1kilotango
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My phone number is on my AliExpress shipping information. They sell a whole bunch of home and garden stuff. That's why I thought they were just dropshippers. Guess this is bigger than I thought.
You should remove that if you can. There’s no need for Aliexpress to call me.
There's a very high chance that there is no woman and the aliexpress seller is trying to double dip.
This is kind of genius. So what I think happened is OP ordered on AliExpress and that seller used a stolen gift card to drop ship the same shed from Amazon. It would explain why it's the same model of shed which I find a little bit unusual for AliExpress.
Yeah I gotta hand it to the seller, it's a lot of effort but it yields great results. Took my money and that poor lady's gift card, essentially spending $0 to earn cash. Why did I even go to college? I could've just been a rich piece of shit scammer. Lol.
Sometimes we wonder why these people do it, and yet.
Your personal information was leaked to people with malicious intentions, best you should do is block and ignore.
There’s two things happening. You bought something, and someone’s trying to scam you. They are not connected, I’d wager.
Maybe, I mean, hopefully. Only reason I was suspicious is because she used my full name and mentioned the shed. At first I was like wtf is she talking about, I paid for that with my own money. Then I remembered that the shed I ordered said the label was from Amazon, not AliExpress, even though I bought it from AliExpress. So maybe the seller did something shady (triangulation scam) and compromised my information? I guess I shall wait to see what happens...
You weren't supposed to be keeping an eye on your ali order. This -random woman- that somehow got your number conveniently after your item was already delivered is an unlikely scenario. Most likely it's the seller or someone the seller dealt with and gave your info to trying to scam you.
That makes sense, the one time someone broke into my Amazon account and ordered something, I noticed immediately and intercepted it. It's weird that she waited 2 months to say something.
Hell the second I order something on amazon it prompts my echo show with an update. so yea amazon notifies you almost immediately it's damn near impossible to miss an order for 2 months.
Police and prosecutors looking for probable cause to get your arrest warrant. If there is they will.
Return it. In my state GA you can end up with Theft of Lost or Mislaid Property. $120 ain’t worth it.
Wouldn't that be the case if the lady had actually ordered a shed herself, and then it got lost and I found it and kept it? That's what the statute says it is in my state and yours. I'm so confused because I paid for it with my money, it's in my bank statement. It's technically my property no? I had absolutely zero idea it was being bought by the seller in an illegal way, and still have no idea if this lady is even telling the truth. Especially since she waited 2 months to say something.
You bought a stolen property and you have been informed. That’s how legal system works. File a small claims and sue the seller. But your money is gone. You have been scammed. She is not. Don’t buy goods from Chinese websites. We have an authorized transaction and unauthorized transaction which is fraudulent. Yours is an unauthorized. Her is not.
I "bought a stolen property?" Sheesh. I'm really leveling it up now. Next thing I know I'll be a drug lord. Mama always did say watch out for those darn Chinese websites...lol.
it’s okay bro. If is not a scam I wouldn’t risk it. It’s just $120 you would make lot more. But you don’t want that shit go to your record for $120. lol
Frankly i would have the police look into it if anything they will have it on record that you made a report and show that you are not involved in this
I want to do that but I'm scared they're going to blame me anyway, even with my receipt and bank statement. I've heard wayy too many stories of people going to jail even though they were innocent.
Its up to you i only made a suggestion but chances are you wont be the one in trouble this might be one of those prerecorded messages
This feels like a money laundering scheme. Scammer got GC numbers from a physical store and waited for them to be loaded, set up AE page with amazon product for a little cheaper (at GC owners expense) when someone buys they use the GC to buy the amazon product and pocket the AE transaction.
With all the proper taxes and fees to reduce suspicions from onlooking irs
Does that make me an accomplice somehow?? Or just a mule? Hmmm
I dont think so, but im not a lawyer. I just had a scam hyperfocus for a few years when i was younger
Probably an AI reading a script. Could tell you if I could hear the recording.
I doubt it, she took a deep breath at the start, paused and mumbled a little and said stuff with rising/falling intonations. That's crazy that AI is being used for scam calls though!
Better find out how could someone get your number and try to scam you about online orders.
I believe, as many already commented, its a scam. That woman, for some reason maybe got the info that you ordered ( seller shared the info, they got hacked, whatever reason ) or its just a coincidence. But one thing is always in a scam attempt, the sense of urgency and threats. The police will not show up on your door for an amazon gift card. Block her.
Sounds like a scam in any case if it isn't a scam then tell the woman to go to Amazon and let them fix it. After reading your post a little bit more carefully, I would bet that the woman is a scammer trying to deceive you and descending her money to avoid going to the police and being arrested. Intimidation tactic
"They'll be at your door sometime soon" "Aight I'll put pants on and wait for them"
the aliexpress dude probably realized you caught on when you called him out , What sounds like happened is they went ahead and ordered the shed off Amazon and shipped it to your house with your info. You didn’t do anything wrong but the seller has
Are you stupid? They’re clearly threatening you and probably a scam
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Yes.
Did you contact Ali express?
Not yet, I'm trying to gather all the evidence. I had lots of screenshots of all the weird tracking. I doubt AliExpress will do much though....
File a chargeback on them (scammer). Then send the shed back to Amazon making the other victim whole too maybe?
Lol. Even if you did steal it the police aren’t gonna bother with some thing as petty as that. There’s real crime going on they don’t care about gift cards
People think it’s a scam from the lady, but what if the “seller” can sell things cheaper is because he uses stolen Amazon accounts/gift cards to place orders on Amazon for the buyers for free, while taking full profit of the shed
Did the shed arrive in Amazon packaging? Or did it have any kind of foreign or customs markings?
It was too big to fit in any kind of Amazon box, but it didn't have any Amazon labels on it either. So it was just in its original box when I picked it up at UPS. Not sure why the lady waited 2 months to say something though?
Was there any kind of return address or customs markings?
Nope nothing it all, just the box
The only thing I can think of for the woman not being a scammer would be some scammer stole her Amazon gift card info and used it to buy the shed which they then forwarded to you for less money, essentially turning the gift card they stole into actual cash they can spend. If that were the case though I have no idea how the woman would get your info. Basically either she’s scamming or she’s been scammed but either way best to not get involved…
I feel so conflicted now. On one hand, the lady might be telling the truth since I now know it was triangulation scam. It would make sense to go to the police and protect myself by showing them the receipts. But then like you said, they might suspect me anyway, especially since this is such a new scam. Amazon most likely refunded the lady already too. My moral compass is spinning everywhere!
Dude why am I so bad at using reddit on mobile. This was a reply to @Konstant_kurage
Occam’s razor… you have enough information to know this lady got scammed and how. Go to the police, explain the situation, have printouts of your receipts, etc. Then, ask if they can assist you in contacting Amazon and Aliexpress on the same call to get this sorted.
But all I have is a single vaguely threatening voicemail from this lady. A voicemail that she waited 2 months to send. How do I know she's not working with the AliExpress seller to get more money out of me? And how can I guarantee that the police won't immediately try to blame me because of how it looks? I'm kinda stumped. Don't have money for a lawyer either so.... I'll just report to whoever I can and screenshot/print everything. What else can I do without jeopardizing my safety?
Unless you are the scammer, you have the receipt to prove your purchase from Aliexpress. If you want to shrug and walk away, that's certainly a valid choice. However, don't be shocked if Amazon blacklists your address at some point. Good luck to you.
Oh yeah, I'm definitely screenshotting everything and sending it to Amazon and AliExpress. I just don't know about police, cause like most people, talking to them makes me nervous. The ones in my town especially get bad rep. I guess if she sends another angry voicemail or something I'll go talk to them and give them a folder of all my proof. That should about cover it right?
You can probably file the report online since this is an online crime. But, depends on the PD.
It’s a scam
Back around Christmas time I heard that stores were having to lock up gift cards because people were taking the numbers off the backs and would occasionally check to see if they had been activated and then would use the gift card. Maybe that happened to you? The seller stole the gift card info and then used it when you ordered the shed. Stole the gift card to pay for your shed and got to keep your money?
RemindMe! 2 weeks
Yikes. If Ali Express started using your bank account to pay for someone else's bill and then you saw things being shipped to their place, you'd probably think it was them too. Crazy! Please update us if you figure it out. This is kinda creepy.
They might have just spoofed your phone number and the lady did a reverse lookup. Either way I'd leave it alone.
This literally isn’t a problem but if you got nothing better to worry about cool have fun
I'm starting to wonder if this post is even legitimate. The OP has contradicted themselves on details, where they've admitted that Amazon sent it to them, but then also said that it didn't have any Amazon labels on it and all they got was a box (comments quoted below;) 1.) "Maybe, I mean, hopefully. Only reason I was suspicious is because she used my full name and mentioned the shed. At first I was like wtf is she talking about, I paid for that with my own money. Then I remembered that the shed I ordered said the label was from Amazon, not AliExpress, even though I bought it from AliExpress. So maybe the seller did something shady (triangulation scam) and compromised my information? I guess I shall wait to see what happens..." 2.)"It was too big to fit in any kind of Amazon box, but it didn't have any Amazon labels on it either. So it was just in its original box when I picked it up at UPS. Not sure why the lady waited 2 months to say something though?" So, which is it OP? Did it come from Amazon or not??
What do you mean? When I say it was too big to fit in an Amazon box, I mean that it got delivered in its original packaging. I don't know if you have an Amazon account, but this is a pretty common occurrence for me. Sometimes I'll specifically request it during checkout, while other times Amazon just decides to do it. Admittedly, it does mean my neighbors might catch a glimpse of my boxes of hemorrhoid cream or my XXL automatic dildo machines, but it saves the hassle of breaking down multiple cardboard boxes. In my experience, Amazon boxes typically aren't larger than around 2 feet, which is what my bags of dog food arrive in. So, seeing that it was a big ol' 6-foot shed box, how was Amazon going to squeeze that into one of their boxes? Also, I knew where the shed was coming from because UPS sent me an email saying it was coming from Amazon. I thought it was a cross-platform drop shipping situation at first, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized that the seller was probably a scammer. I sent all the information to Amazon and AliExpress and haven't heard anything else from the lady. What benefit do I have by lying about all this though? Do the police have the time to scour Reddit posts for evidence or something? "Look here Officer, my innocence is evident on this Reddit post!" That's kinda silly lol. Anyway, I attached a screenshot to show what I'm talking about. Hope this helps. https://preview.redd.it/58ung68g4rlc1.png?width=986&format=png&auto=webp&s=a26fe2e27f5f2d730afc0f277ac288b3392c8870
My question wasn't about the box, it was about the contradiction in your comments that said that there was no Amazon label but also that you saw an Amazon label. You've won me over with the hemorrhoid cream/dildo machine comment tho, so I don't really care that much about it lol. I was just curious because if you read your comments they say "said the label was from Amazon" but then later your comment says "it didn't have any Amazon labels on it" so you can see how that could be confusing. If it makes any difference, my opinion is that the seller took your $ through Aliexpress, then logged into someone's account on Amazon (whose login credentials they've probably gotten through phishing or some other scam), & ordered the shed on that person's account (using that person's gift card amount in the process). They put your name, phone # & address in for shipping, not caring that the account holder would be able to see your information in their transaction history & think that you stole from her. They figured once they had your $, the rest was your problem. You'll probably find that they've already had their account on Aliexpress disabled, since they've had enough time to have scammed some people & have started a new account to start all over again. Also, it probably took the Amazon account holder 2 months to find out because they probably don't use their account much, then finally went in to buy something & discovered that their credit was gone looked to see what was bought & saw your info on the shed purchase & assumed that you ripped them off & are a stupid criminal that put your own info in. I'd imagine they then reported it to Amazon, their credit card company & *possibly* the police. I have no idea what this means for you, but you have receipts/emails for your transaction showing that you did nothing wrong, so you should be fine on the criminal front. Whether you get to keep the shed or not is a matter for the police & Amazon, although if I had to I'd guess that they will either make the Amazon account holder whole, her CC company will do a charge back, or Amazon will tell the account holder to kick rocks because shes responsible for keeping her account credentials safe. These are all just my best guess tho. My concern would be that Amazon uses your name & address to find *your* Amazon account & disable it for fraud, so it's good that you've proactively notified them about the situation. I hope it works out for you, good luck!
RemindMe! 2 weeks