I'd rather have the Cadillac El Dorado.
Posted on 02/19/2024 8:32:28 AM PST by ShadowAce
Daniel Williams, come pick up your junk.
For more than six months, a parade of unsolicited Amazon packages — large and small, cheap and expensive, free or fraudulently billed — have arrived at John DeFiore’s rural Woodside home, addressed to a mysterious Mr. Williams.
“It’s like the Twilight Zone,” said DeFiore, 61, an electrical engineer who is meticulous about his online shopping habits and credit card use.
“We don’t want any of this stuff,” he said. “It’s not ours. We have everything we need.”
Online shopping offers near-infinite choice and convenience. But it has also created a global gathering place for digital crooks, fraudsters and credit card thieves. Consumers’ only remedy — calling customer service — is its own journey through hell.
DeFiore’s drama started innocently enough, with the arrival of a simple envelope holding two tiny machine screws. He dismissed it as a simple address error.
RELATED: Getting packages you didn’t order from Amazon or elsewhere? Here’s how to deal with e-commerce scams
“‘Oh, somebody just made a mistake,’“ he thought. “Maybe there’s a new neighbor named Daniel Williams.” He found a Dan Williams in the nearby town of La Honda — but, nope, the screws weren’t his.
Nor did they belong to any of the nation’s other Daniel Williams, such as the doctor who performs hand surgery in Wisconsin, or the former defensive tackle who does diabetes education in Memphis. The name, apparently a pseudonym, was used by what Amazon calls “a bad actor.”
The screws were soon followed by solar panel cables, a gaming console and an attractive digital picture frame.
Then came a portable foot spa, with air bubbles, temperature control and massage rollers.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
If you didn’t order it, it’s a gift and you don’t have to pay for it or return it.
Last year it was seeds from China.
Anyone here have knowledge on what’s going on with this?
Seems really creepy
Inexpensive stuff I can see being part of a study about delivery, but game consoles and solar panels seems in excess of that.
The story goes on to say his Amazon Prime credit card began to incur charges.
That takes it beyond “free stuff” territory.
“Then came a small sofa – and an alarming $459 charge on his Amazon Prime credit card. The sofa wasn’t listed anywhere on his Amazon account. But he was billed for it.”
That makes me suspect it’s actually on the Amazon side......perhaps a bad actor employee.
My experience with Amazon has been generally excellent; but I can vouch for this man’s difficulty in contacting them - it’s been a hassle the few times I’ve had a problem.
Seems really creepy
or not in the neighborhood seeing if they can make the news. the new fashion activity.
First thing I woulda done was completely delete my Amazon account and have my bank kill my credit card issue a new one.
TikTok challenge?
from the article:
“Consider using “passkeys,” which are easier and more secure than passwords. They let you sign in to your Amazon account by using your face, fingerprint, or the PIN that you use to unlock your device.”
Nothing dumber than giving images of your face, fingerprint or your phone’s PIN number out to Amazon or any other online company.
I once inspected a house for sale that was owned by a state politician who had to make a midnight move to get out from under the shadow of sexual harassment charges. Mid-inspection I’m greeted by FedEx with a delivery of alcoholic beverages that easily exceeded $2K. Called the listing agent about it, who told me to make it disappear, which I gladly did. The buyer I inspected for told me that he received similar pe-Thanksgiving deliveries reliably for the next 7 years until he tranferred out of the area.
While a bit of a pain, I change passwords occasionally.....especially if a credit r debit card is involved.
You might be all set to host a fondue party. Melting pot. Steak Knives.
We had a few issues in the past with people charging things to our Amazon account. They were able to get through our password. After we went to two-step verification having an OTP to the cell phone, that totally stopped.
We’ve never received things we hadn’t ordered.
The times we did need to contact Customer Service (I think they call it Account Services), they’ve been excellent.
The amount of scammers out there today is absolutely insane. A few months ago my dad was using some cash app that to me looked suspicious and I warned him, there is no reason to use that freakin’ thing and sure enough, they cleaned out his checking account in one transaction, almost $4,000
I'd rather have the Cadillac El Dorado.
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