Fraud or a Mistake?

[crokett]

In the mail today was an invoice from UPS to my wife using a business name she hasn't used in two years. It had a UPS account number on it, we've never had a UPS account that I know of. It was a package sent from some guy in CT to Lowes here in NC. I checked UPS.com and started to register to manage the account online. I got as far as validating the account # so it appears to be valid. I am worried somebody created the account, which begs the question how they got my wife's particulars.

[Alex Franke]

I vote mistake. But I would definitely get on the horn to UPS and check it out.... and if she had any credit cards under the business name, I'd check them out, too -- just in case!

[chopnhack]

I'd get all over that asap. Sometimes vendors are unscrupulous and save old data and sometimes use it later on when they think no one will notice. It could also have been pure id theft, again perhaps a vendor she had done business through or with in the past lost their records or discarded improperly. In any event she would be responsible for the charges until she can prove that it wasnt her!!
Good luck with getting it straighten out - make sure you take down name, position, time, date and extension of everyone you speak with, and keep it in a notebook with the discussion had.

[Uncle Cracker]

I'm with the others on this... Err to the side of caution and check this out fully. It most probably is a mistake, but often it is exactly this kind of glitch that is your first (and possibly only) warning that somebody's messing with your ID...

[gjat]

It's most likely fraud. I've seen it often over the years. People mine old data on the internet, or from employees clearing old files and disposing them in the trash. They send invoices to companies with seemingly legit names (United Parcels Services instead of United Parcel Service). It's like lotto. Some will pay, some won't. Two months latter, they close out the accounts and are gone. Often I see it for yellow pages advertising or commercial phone listings. It's rarely much, less than $200. But if you send out 1,000 and only 20% pay, it's a nice take for a few months.

[crokett]

I called UPS and it was a mistake. She could see the original shipping doc and saw where a handwritten digit was entered incorrectly on the account number. She verified the account number as written on the shipping label and it matched the sender's address and company name. So it is all good.

[chopnhack]

Wow, good to know it was something more sinister.

[cabinetman]

I called UPS and it was a mistake. She could see the original shipping doc and saw where a handwritten digit was entered incorrectly on the account number. She verified the account number as written on the shipping label and it matched the sender's address and company name. So it is all good.

I would have called UPS before making a post here because you never know who is reading this stuff. It could have been an international plot that quit because they found out you were on to them. Now you have no way of catching them and becoming a national hero.
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[BerniePA]

I would have called UPS before making a post here because you never know who is reading this stuff. It could have been an international plot that quit because they found out you were on to them. Now you have no way of catching them and becoming a national hero.
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Now you've gone and given it all away -- don't you know it's "Crokett.........David Crokett --- stirred, not shaken!!"

[crokett]

I would have called UPS before making a post here because you never know who is reading this stuff. It could have been an international plot that quit because they found out you were on to them. Now you have no way of catching them and becoming a national hero.
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I have the shipper's and receiver's addresses. UPS delivered an actual package.