Brushing scam or something else?

[Southernmiss]

Has anyone ever received deliveries you did not order?

DH and I flew in August and came home to a melted Hello Fresh box on our porch addressed to me. It was 100 degrees outside, so it went directly in the garbage. Thought it was odd. Called and reported it to Hello Fresh, monitored our credit card, no odd activity. No friend or family member sent it.

DH and I flew this week, same airline, and came home to 2 melted EveryPlate boxes on our porch addressed to him. We opened the boxes. Inside each box were 3 sets of meals.

We have never used a meal kit service.

The boxes were delivered UPS. No odd activity on our credit card.

So very weird. I called the airline to report a scam. The rep thought I was crazy.

But I found a security email address and emailed the airline security department and told them the coincidence is too uncanny and I'm concerned our data was breached and continues to be breached through their system.

Dh and I have gone out of town by car several times this year, most recently last week, and nothing like this happened.

Very few family members and coworkers knew we were going out of town. No neighbors knew- we rarely talk to them.

I have looked online and found brushing scams for small dollar items, but nothing like this.

Any ideas, disboarders?

 

[Imzadi]

I'd be concerned about time sensitive boxes left on the front porch for several days. That's a clear indication to burglars that there is no one home, and also no neighbors keeping an eye out for the house to take that stuff inside. Like if the third time you are out of town, they know they they can drive up with a van and clean out the house.

Check all your doors & windows to make sure they haven't been tampered with or could be easily jimmied open when no one is there or watching. Check to see that everything in the yard is still there and everything is in the house.

Was your mail still in your mailbox? Is it easy to open the mailbox and find out your names?

Use a different airlines next time you travel. And if you used the same travel agent or service for both trips, next time don't.

Also, how did you get to the airport? Did you drive and leave the car in the lot? Or did you call and take a cab both times?

 

[_19disnA]

I am not clear what the airline would have to do with this. I would contact the food service company since there are usually enough bar codes/code #/order # on the box for them to be able to trace who ordered it. Someone obviously ordered it, those things don't just randomly get delivered to people. I don't know what 'brushing' is, but it would be helpful when you are away on vacation if you have a trusted neighbor watch your house so anything randomly delivered doesn't pile up by the front door.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I plant to pass this advice onto my daughter .
Thank you …

 

[tvguy]

I had no idea what brushing was, this is an article on it. Makes no sense to me since SOMEONE is paying for it, and they appear to be using public information that anyone can access.
https://www.uspis.gov/news/scam-article/brushing-scam

 

[barkley]

both fed ex and ups will let you put a stop/hold on deliveries just like the usps. i would put a stop on both as well as usps during travel periods (only other deliveries we get are very rarely through dhl but i suspect a stop/hold can be placed with them as well).

as far as additional 'security' for one's home when traveling i will pass on one suggestion if someone lives where snow falls during their travel times-ask a trusted neighbor to drive a car into and out of the driveway, walk up to the front door and around the driveway a bit. nothing else screams 'empty house' around where we live than untouched/untracked snow for days/weeks on end.

 

[AprilsZoo]

both fed ex and ups will let you put a stop/hold on deliveries just like the usps. i would put a stop on both as well as usps during travel periods (only other deliveries we get are very rarely through dhl but i suspect a stop/hold can be placed with them as well).

as far as additional 'security' for one's home when traveling i will pass on one suggestion if someone lives where snow falls during their travel times-ask a trusted neighbor to drive a car into and out of the driveway, walk up to the front door and around the driveway a bit. nothing else screams 'empty house' around where we live than untouched/untracked snow for days/weeks on end.

This is an excellent tip. Especially the part about the snow.

And I know traditional newspaper delivery has mostly gone the way of the dinosaur, but some people do still get them, so if you are one of the, don’t forget to stop that as well.

Even the free neighborhood-type mini newspapers can usually be stopped… we actually requested that they stop ours permanently. We still get them occasionally, but it’s not often enough to matter. Plus I’m not even sure a burglar could use that as a reliable indicator in our neighborhood, because every third house has 6-10 or more of them scattered around the front yard or porch.

OP, hopefully you snapped a picture of the address labels on the boxes. I second the suggestion to call the respective services to inquire as to who sent them. And I’m not sure if you realize, but EveryPlate is a subsidiary of HelloFresh.

We’ve had odd boxes show up at our house before, including Omaha Steaks and a meal delivery service box. Both times it turned out to be related to dh’s work. The Omaha Steaks were sent by the company’s president to all the upper-level management and executives. The email came a few days after the delivery… oops. The meal service box was a gift from a vendor that the company worked with who wanted to thank several execs on the “anniversary” of when they became a vendor for the company (which ironically dh said was not even the right date… or even the right month. But hey it’s the thought that counts right? And it gave the execs a chuckle, so… )

Anyway OP, there may be an innocent explanation. If you don’t find out anything from HF or EP, double check with relatives, too and ask at work to see if anyone else got any similar deliveries.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Always have a neighbor watching your house. If you live in a town with a police department, let them know when you will be out of town.