SCAM ALERT: Bogus Deliveries Involving a Whistle and Similar Scams

If you own a business, you know it's hard to run things and get the things you need to run your business effectively without ordering what need online. It's almost, if not literally, impossible. My husband owns several businesses and I also have some side gigs going so things are constantly being delivered to our house. We recently received a package that really blew the whistle on a company we had ordered from overseas.

First off, we like to order as much as we can from the US, but this particular part, like many things since COVID, is hard to find. My husband ordered that part as soon as he found it because we had been waiting and looking for a long time. He was thrilled that we could not only get it but get it so soon.

Well, we got a package, but not the package we expected at all. It was a very small, lightweight package. A few days earlier, he had received an email from PayPal asking him to verify that we received a package from a Chinese company by clicking a link. Since we had not yet received any package, he didn't click the link.

A few days later, we got the package, below. When he opened up the package, the only thing inside was the above (pictured) plastic, red whistle. That was it, nothing else, not even an invoice or anything was inside of the envelope.

It seemed as if the timing of the email from PayPal and the receipt of the package were suspicious. My husband contacted Paypal and they verified that a company was trying to charge us $85 for the package that was delivered to our house. That was the price of the part we were waiting to receive, but there was no part at all. We contested the invoice and Paypal in investigating. If we had clicked the link, without thinking because we EXPECTED to receive the package any day, it would have been quite a bit harder to contest the transaction.

Something similar happened to a WKDQ listener who sent us a Facebook message.

I was listening to you and Leslie this morning and heard her story about the Chinese scam whistle order/delivery.  I had something similar happen to me as well, but with a twist.  A Chinese vendor using paypal, I ordered a highend Japanese cooking appliance.  I got a message it was delivered when I was home, but no delivery.  I had no way to contact the vendor so I called Mastercard and disputed the charge.  Chinese vendor said “it was delivered with a receipt from UPS!  So I had to contact UPS and for sure enough, delivery was allegedly to a different address that I did not provide and the weight of the package was nil compared to heavy appliance I ordered.  UPS responded “can’t verify delivery”!  Thus, Mastercard gave me my money back, but I had to do all the work and luckily, UPS confirmed no delivery to my address. - William

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So, although I don't have an ending to this scamming tale, there is a lesson to learn here. Always follow your gut, if a purchase feels too good to be true, it usually is, and never click on a link that seems fishy. Better yet, NEVER click on a link. If you are unsure of the reason, contact the company that sent the link to verify its legitimacy. And, my advice would be to always use another party to handle your transactions, like PayPal or Venmo, that way, thieves and scammers will not have your credit or debit card info. Also, when there is a dispute, they will help you try to reach a resolution.