Whatever happened with the Ebay/UPS Uniform mystery?

[montessori]

Maybe I missed an update and I can't find anything about it when I do a search.
Someone posted about UPS uniforms selling for unbelievable prices on Ebay. The FBI was involved, I think.
Anyone know what happened with it? It was really strange.

 

[allicat]

Never heard another thing about it!

 

[Blondie]

Weird!

 

[BethR]

I was wondered the same thing too this week when I passed a FedEx truck.

 

[mum4jenn]

I have been wondering also. I sent a pm to the original poster a few days ago but have not heard anything yet. She also has not written anything since then.

 

[phamton]

I found so far one shirt that is at around $15 or so...the current high bidder has a rating of 8 positives and they aren't very new. I looked at some of the things they had bought previously and found a Bob The Builder toothbrush and a art deco print of some burros. That doesn't exactly strike me as terroristic. Tacky maybe. Another thing that doesn't fit is that, two of the user names I checked, along with the clothing they had also bid on UPS bobblehead dolls and a UPS model train car. Not sure how much terrorism you can conduct with a Lionel train. It would appear that some UPS items are going for multiple hundreds of dollars. However, it appears that others are going for only ten dollars. Upon further investigation I have found something relating the initials UPS to something called "United Pot Smugglers." Lets see...I have found several shirts that have zero bids...and a lot of the shirts have "emo" and "punk" in the title heading

EMO is a sub-movement of punk music which was coined "emo" because it was, well..."emotional". Bands often ended their songs with someone on stage crying. They *OFTEN* wear stuff like UPS uniforms or garage-shirts while playing. Anything blue-collar is common to see.

.

Some may be Dale Jarrett fans. http://www.dalejarrett.com/index.asp UPS is his official sponsor. He wears UPS on his outfit and his car.

 

[d.kurz]

phamton: Thanks for that EMO explanation. I'd seen that before and wondered......

 

[BarryHom]

I bet a bunch of male strippers bought them.

 

[phamton]

Some of you were interested in this thread about the eBay/UPS uniform purchases from this old thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=309614&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

Well there has been some more said on this issue:

Louisville Courier-Journal
Sunday, March 02, 2003

At the water cooler
Person in brown works for UPS

If you don't have enough on your mind these days, some Internet pranksters are trying to sow worries about terrorists dressed as your friendly, trusted UPS delivery person.

An e-mail "alert" making the rounds reported that "UPS uniforms have been purchased over the last 30 days by person(s) unknown on eBay. Law enforcement is working the case, however no suspect(s) have been identified. Subjects may try to gain facility access by wearing these uniforms."

Relax, UPS spokesman Norman Black says, and don't worry about the report. "Call it urban legend or call it hoax, there's nothing to it." There are, however, several UPS-logoed items such as jackets, shirts and even socks for sale on the auction site.

UPS drivers in brown uniforms are an unlikely target for impersonators, because most companies know their delivery person, he said. Genuine UPS drivers also are easy to spot because they always carry a brown minicomputer used to track packages.

"If you have any question about whether or not that is a UPS driver knocking on your door, don't open the door," Black said. Instead, dial 1-800-PICK UPS. The company can verify that a delivery is scheduled, or you can make alternative arrangements for picking up your package.



http://www.courier-journal.com/business/news2003/03/02/biz-front-cool02-4839.html

 

[luvdzny]

I remember the original post, and I was wondering the same thing. On Friday I got an urgent security e-mail at work. It was about the purchase of the UPS uniforms on e-bay and explained that we all need to be careful when it comes to the UPS drivers. I work for a very large company and the e-mail came from their security department so I guess someone is a bit concerned.

 

[mickeyfan1]

We were told that ALL delivery people need to have a company picture ID shown before they can enter the loading docks. Although if you are going to buy a uniform with the intent to do harm, then aren't you going to be smart enough to manufacture a fake id? We usually get the same delivery people each day, and if a different one shows up, our question is "where is the usual guy, what is his/her name?" That would be a hard thing to guess correctly. And if you aren't sure, you can alway take the ID and call FedEx/UPS/Airborne. It is sad what we have come to, not trusting people.

 

[Luv2Roam]

We are always reminded in our building of how safe and secure we are. But yet just over a week ago some guy was wondering the halls trying to sell jewelry. And this with security badges and security on site.
These days you almost can't be too over secure.

 

[phamton]

Many have mentioned that they have received a warning letter at work about the UPS uniform scare. It seems that the NYFD also forwarded the letter that was supposed to be from Army Intelligience but was a fake.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/fdnymemo1.html

"Somebody needs to tell the New York City Fire Department about snopes.com,
the Internet's leading urban legend site. Because an FDNY chief last week
circulated the below internal memo warning of the "huge purchase" of United
Parcel Service uniforms on eBay--perhaps by terrorists planning to pose as
delivery men who could "drop off anything to anyone with dangerous
consequences." Chief Lawrence Connors told TSG that he issued the memo to
FDNY personnel after receiving intelligence information from the U.S.
Army's Regional Support Command."

It seems that Snopes has a write up about the scare also: http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/ups.asp

Bev