Spoke with UPS today.

I spoke with UPS today in regards to this account that I did not open. Here are some facts:

1. The account was set up, using my name, and old address, on Oct 23rd, 2006 as an occasional use account. This means that, thankfully, my CC number and SS number were not compromised.
   
2. A total of 8 packages have been sent using this account, apparently all to Apple.
3. The address for Apple, where the shipments were delivered, were to Apple in Los Angeles, not New York as was previously said. This was a mistake on my wife's part when talking to the representative last night.
4. Bohemian Fashion, in N.Y. was not the only place the packages came from.
5. The packages were verified by the representative as "inbound charged", meaning they were shipped as the "receiver" being responsible for the charges. And Apple was the "receiver" in all 8 instances.
6. Several shipments are currently being VOIDED on this account, meaning there are shipments actively being sent right now, but UPS is now on the trail of this. They have canceled this shipping account, so no new packages can be sent as of today.

UPS is being very understanding and cooperative, other than they wont give me specifics of the shipments, such as addresses of the shippers and receivers, since they now know this is a fraudulent account. I have expressed that they wont be seeing a dime from me for this, and they didn't argue this point. I am going to work to stay in the know about this, and keep anyone who wants to follow this up to day.

Posted this story on Digg

I thought to myself, there is no bigger fans of a story of attempted fraud than the Digg community!

Check it and its comments here

The Beginning...

Driving home this evening I got a slightly annoyed phone call from my wife. She proceeded to ask me about what I had ordered via UPS for $291.19. While this kind of questioning is not unusual, I knew for a fact I didnt have anything on order worth that much. She then explains that there is a bill from UPS for my shipping account owing $14.60 for this "period". This bill had my name, my OLD address, and my new address as well. (we moved to Missouri over a year ago) Now I am a little concerned.

Let me explain. I DO NOT, nor have I EVER HAD an account with UPS. Sure, I have sent and recieved stuff like most people, but I dont have any reason to have a shipping account. And I could tell from what she was reading me over the phone that this was a bill from a UPS shipping account.

When I expressed astonishment to this, my wife decided to call UPS and inquire about this mysterious bill with her husbands name on it. She called me back about 10 minutes later with some info. Apparently UPS believes I opened a shipping account, and have shipped at least one package with it. (Now the kicker!) This package that I supposedly shipped was from an entity in New York (city?) called Bohemian Fashion to (and GET THIS) Apple in New York. This shippment aparently occured on November 17th of this year.

Now, I know from being a more than semi experienced netizen that most scam operators commit their crimes in ways that, in the end, deliver goods or services to THEM. So using this simple logic, does this mean that someone at Apple, in New York City, has commited some sort of scam using me as the shipping scapegoat? Heres one other piece of the puzzle. I did own a piece of Apple hardware. I used to be an owner of a Mac Mini. And like most people when buying from a major corporation like Apple, I gave them my personal info. Not anything like my S.S. number, but they have my home address, my phone, my CC number. (though this may not have been used in this case, more to follow) Knowing this, I took a look at UPS's website and the process to create a shipping account. Guess what folks? It doesnt seem to take any more info than what I gave the Apple store at the time of my purchase to create a shippers account on UPS.com.

I unfortunatly cannot get in touch with UPS myself this evening, as their customer service has closed for the evening, but I will be calling them first thing tomorrow. We will see where this story goes, and believe me I will pursue this as far as it takes me. If someone at Apple has decided to start stealing customer information for their own uses, I want them caught and prosecuted. If this is some sort of honest billing mistake, and I cannot see how that could be, then no harm no foul. UPS has opened an investigation file according to the woman my wife talked with, so they know I am disputing this, and I am sure I will never be responsible for these charges.

Funny thing, also, the person or persons commiting this fraud are semi-honest. They appear to have made at least one payment to their UPS shipper account for $42.78. Good for them, eh?